Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Mugiwara no Harry
Summary: Ash and Harry are two abandoned 4-year-olds who are adopted by a Mega Ampharos. Watch as they travel Kanto, attempt to master Harry's magic, and become Pokemon Masters. Book 1 in the Magical Beasts Series.
1. It's Raining Children

**Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you see a number contained in parentheses like this: (1), know that it's something that will either be linked to or explained in the chapter summary. Also, I am aware that I'm giving genders to some genderless legendary Pokemon, but that's either for story purposes or... actually, sometimes simply because their artwork tends to lean more towards one gender than the other. Regardless, if that offends you in any way, I'm sorry, but I'm not changing it.**

 **I own neither Harry Potter or Pokemon. Back, vile copyright infringement laws! I have a disclaimer! (The offending paper shrivels up and dies.) That's better. (Rewritten on 7/19/19)**

* * *

 _"Thinking"_

 _Pokespeech_

 ** _Moves/ Spells_**

* * *

(4 years ago)

* * *

"Congratulations, James Potter. You have twins!" a nurse said as she handed the two bassinets to the shocked man.

Looking over the two newborns, his gaze fell upon the one labeled Harry Potter. _"Not too impressive."_ he mused as he mentally passed over the peacefully sleeping baby. Turning his attention to the other child, Alan S. Potter, who was still awake and crying his eyes out in his bassinet, his eyes glazed over with pride and he triumphantly thought, _"That's my son! Demand everything until you get what you want, my boy!"_ Pretending to be slightly unbalanced, he handed Harry to Lily under the pretense of not wanting to drop him, allowing him to focus all of his attention on Alan - his perceived true son.

* * *

Over the next year, life had become harder for both Lily and Harry. James had been headed and quickly began to ignore Lily and Harry in favor of Alan and his more carnal desires. Lily was barely able to tolerate his constant requests to drop everything and have coitus before having children, and by the twins' first birthday he'd graduated to adultery in an attempt to get his fix. By that point, she was more than willing to divorce the unfaithful bastard, but the interfering old goat that was Albus Dumbledore had told the unhappily married duo about the prophecy and forced them to stay in the Godric's Hollow cottage instead of the Potter Manor. He reasoned that the manor was too obvious, but to her, it seemed like he was trying to get them killed! Adding in James' constant requests to only focus on Alan and his own 'needs', Lily thought it was a miracle that she hadn't snapped and eviscerated him yet.

* * *

All Hallow's Eve, 1991

* * *

A loud bang ripped through the house as the door burst open in a flash of red light. "Grab Alan and run!" James called out. "I'll handle this!"

Annoyed at being ordered around, Lily grabbed the twins before running upstairs to their bedroom, regretting that they hadn't built some type of back exit into the house. Sighing in relief at her absence, James turned to Lord Voldemort with a massive smirk plastered across his face. "Now that the bitch is gone, let's make a deal. I'll let you kill her and Harry, as long as you let me and Alan flee. I've had my fun with her, and at this point, I can't stand her attitude anymore."

Aware of the prophecy and the implications of being able to kill one of the twins, an evil grin grew on Lord Voldemort's on his face as he eagerly accepted James' offer. "Deal." he hissed out and eagerly restarted their 'duel', moving up the stairs as they continued their farce of colored lights and harmless hexes. Reaching the nursery, he pretended to knock James unconscious before entering the room and immediately casting Avada Kedavra at Lily. "Pathetic." he hissed out, stomping over to Harry for the grand finale. "Time to die, Potter!" he gleefully shouted. "Avada Kedavra!"

* * *

The house was shaken to its foundations as a large BOOM rocked the structure, destroying the western side of the house and leaving Harry with his trademarked lightning bolt scar. Ignoring his twin's agony and crying at having his naptime interrupted with the loud noise, Alan began wailing in pain as a falling piece of ceiling scratched a 'V' onto his forehead. As to how that particular coincidence happened, I have no idea either, so let's just blame it on fate, shall we?

It was at this moment Dumbledore and James strode into the room, both rushing over to Alan's crib as James ignored Harry's sobs of pain. Cradling the whining child, James turned to Dumbledore with a look of utter pride in his eyes. "Albus, Alan is the chosen one! He's destroyed Voldemort, and has been marked by his power! Look at the v-shaped scar on his head!"

"My boy, may I suggest giving Harry to the Dursleys? They'll take the boy in, and it'll allow you to fully concentrate on Alan. After all, we can't have the boy who lived distracted by his cowardly twin." Dumbledore suggested, eyes sparkling with delight as James cast a look of utter loathing at the 'coward' of the two.

Turning his head back to his mentor and nodding his head vigorously, James replied with "Sure! He'd just hold Alan back anyway."

Smiling at his plan going perfectly, Dumbledore wrapped Harry up in some scattered blankets and apparated to Number 4 Privet Drive. Conjuring a basket and a letter, he left the boy on the doorstep, completely aware Harry was the actual chosen one. He'd glanced at both children as he entered the room, but he'd only felt that innate twinge of _**wrong**_ that came with dark magic from the child in front of him. Chuckling, he touched his wand to the newly formed gash on Harry's head and dipped the tip in the boy's blood. Drawing a small circle and pentagram on the poy's stomach with the red liquid, he activated the blood wards around the house and bound Harry's magic to them. He apparated away a few seconds later, overjoyed that decades of planning have finally advanced to the endgame - the final stage to make him the forever revered leader of the light.

 _"This is all for the greater good."_ he thought as he appeared in Godric's Hollow. _"The Dursleys will make the boy properly malleable and obedient, perfect for the final battle against Tom and his necessary death to further my plans. Even better, the blood wards will drain his magic to the point where he can't retaliate, leaving just enough to heal him from any grave injury. We can't have the key component of my plans not be able to or just refuse to sacrifice himself, after all. It's a shame that I needed to leave a compulsion on the letter, but there's no sense in leaving anything up to chance. He needs to be abused to ensure his potential, molded by my hands to be our sacrificial lamb. Even if he doesn't survive, at least he took some of Voldemort with him to the afterlife."_

* * *

The next three years were hell on earth for young Harry. After almost being stepped on by the bony horse of a woman that was his aunt, the Dursleys had opened the letter and activated Dumbledore's compulsion charm. Suddenly despising the fact they were saddled with a wizard, they immediately resolved to beat the magic out of the boy and mold him to be their perfectly subservient slave. This was not helped by the Horcrux in his skull, its' aura of corrupting darkness whispering to them to give the boy even more extreme punishments and make him even more helpless. Trapped between two mind-altering magics, the Dursleys' fragile psyches shattered and warped, a single-minded fixation on punishing the boy for his misdeeds tying their lives together.

As the years went on, Harry was put to work around the house, beatings and scraps of food as his only reward. Their minds warped beyond recognition from the Horcrux and Dumbledore's compulsion, the three Dursleys gleefully pushed the envelope further and further on what they could get away with and still have Harry be somewhat intact. After one particularly horrible beating, he was thrown headfirst into the cupboard under the stairs and locked in, the Dursleys snarling their usual vitriol at him through the door.

 _"I'm not a monster!"_ he thought, tears of agony rolling down his face as he rolled off his broken arm and onto his heavily bruised back. _"I just want a friend! What's wrong with that? I wish I was anywhere else! I don't care where!"_ Unbeknownst to him, his magic had been eating away at its' binds for the last three years, and that intense, soul-rending desire was the straw that broke the camel's back, the last burst of strength needed to shatter the bindings. Suddenly, he felt a massive wave of power well up inside of him, and the door burst open as the Dursleys felt the primordial force explode into reality. Desperately scrambling away from the ungodly furious Dursleys, Harry wished once again to be anywhere else, no, as far away from this tiny slice of hell as possible, and his magic granted that request in a massive flash of golden light.

Suddenly falling through a tornado of golden light, Harry saw the v̵̝̦̏̋̈́o̷̢̬̠̳̎̎͌̕ì̴̥̙̜͊̑ď̷̪̪̬̲, the gap between the universes that his magic was shielding him from. Not a moment after seeing his surroundings, the front of his head seemed to explode in pure agony, and through his increasingly hazy vision he saw a dark specter rise upwards and vanish into the void before blacking out. Despite his unconsciousness, Harry's golden twister continued through the nothingness unabated, plummeting towards the Pokemon universe at ever-increasing speeds. However, as he neared the universe's boundaries, he seemed to bounce off an invisible shield, the canon universe refusing to be intrinsically altered by a foreign source. As Harry fell ever further through the void, his tornado slowly petering out, a warped and twisted reflection of canon passed underneath him, and he fell through the nearly nonexistent barrier as the drill of light surrounding him began to dissolve.

* * *

Slightly before Harry's impact with the new universe

* * *

4-year-old Ash Ketchum's mother led him to a clearing in far-off Unova, keeping a fake smile on her face so he wouldn't suspect her plan to abandon him. She had no desire to raise the kid any more than she absolutely had to, and with the Oaks keeping a close eye on both of them, she was unable to do anything to get rid of her kid. She wanted to be back with Giovanni again, not stuck raising an attention-demanding brat! Thankfully, she'd saved up enough money to go on a vacation while Oak was at one of his traveling lectures, which had finally given her the opportunity to get rid of the little nuisance.

"Don't worry, Ash!" she smiled, and the brat relaxed. "I'll be right back! I just need to get our picnic basket!"

As his mother headed back into the woods, Ash felt a massive wave of foreboding wash over him and began to walk towards her, reaching out to tug on her dress. She whipped around with a snarl on her face, immediately sculpting it back into a smile as soon as she saw Ash recoil.

"Don't worry, _Sweetie_!" she cooed, voice dripping with barely hidden malice. "I'll be right back! But, you need to sit here and wait."

Nodding hesitantly, he walked back to the center of the clearing and sat back down, looking around for anything to do. Delia turned back around and resumed her trek into the woods, casting regular glances back to make sure he hadn't left his spot. As soon as she couldn't see him anymore, she booked it back to the exit of the trail and immediately left without a second thought.

* * *

Ash vibrated with nervous energy, looking around the clearing in a slight panic. They'd not walked for that long to get here, so why wasn't his mom back by now?

 _"She couldn't have left me, right?"_ he hesitantly asked himself before immediately shaking his head. _"No! She'd never leave me! Maybe she's just lost! I've got to look for her!"_

Immediately ignoring her instructions to stay in the clearing, Ash charged at the entrance to the dirt path and somehow managed to miss the massive tornado of golden light touching down behind him and dissipating. Suddenly, he heard a loud WHUMP behind him, and he spun around to find another kid that was barely breathing. Behind him, he heard the bushes at the entrance to the trail rustling and spun around once more - only to find two unfamiliar Pokemon, and no sight of his mom at all. Crying silently, Ash realized that his mother had indeed abandoned him, and he was truly alone... except for the dying boy behind him and the two unfamiliar Pokemon that were rapidly approaching them.

* * *

The Mega Ampharos and Mega Lucario stared at the young boys in the clearing, completely forgetting their current predicament. Born and bred in the Team Plasma labs, they were forced to fight and evolve for the organization's hypocritical goal, evolving repeatedly just to survive the battles against the Unova League. However, they had recently begun to be pushed back by the League's greater talent and power, leading to the Seven Sages deciding to take drastic measures to keep Plasma alive. Every last Pokemon they had that was capable of mega evolution was gathered together and experimented on in an attempt to permanently unlock their mega evolutions, and only ten percent of all of the pokemon that had survived the first experiment stayed alive for more than a week in their new forms due to the massive physical backlash. Thankfully, Theia and Robin (respectively) had both managed to sneak out and join forces, fleeing into the wilderness as the guards fired attacks at their retreating backs. Sadly, Robin had been hit with a concentrated Psybeam by one of the patrolling Beheeyem and had been bleeding steadily for the last few hours, and with her aura on the fritz ever since she'd mega evolved neither Pokemon was able to heal the hole in her side.

Despite the burning agony in her abdomen, Robin still had the strength to match Theia in their blitz through the forest, though both knew that if they didn't patch up the hole in her side soon she'd die. Still, they'd had no choice but to keep running for hours and hours on end, their former captors being too determined to be shaken from their trail for long. As a result, Robin was pale and shaking like a blade of grass, her body taxed to its absolute limit. However, the sight of the two children, both utterly broken in their own way, sparked the last dregs of her willpower into a massive blaze of determination, a fire burning inside her to save the kids in any way she could.

 _"Theia, we both know I'm dying. I've lost too much blood, and there's no way we'll be able to reach any medical facilities in time."_ Robin stated, turning to face her friend and fellow escapee. _"If I'm going to die, I'm going to die doing the right thing. Please don't try to stop me."_

Theia swallowed her sadness and silently nodded, tears coming unbidden to her eyes as her friend stumbled forward, glaring at her paws that flickered with blue light. Knowing that her friend was not going to be stopped in her endeavor, Theia decided that she should respect Robin's dying wish, rushing forward to provide her with some support as Robin limped towards the barely breathing Harry.

 _"Please work. Even if I go to the distortion world for this, just work!"_ she whispered as she pressed her glowing palms onto his chest. For a single moment, Robin's breath caught in her chest as she saw the blue light begin to flow off the boy before it sank in, his wounds knitting themselves together as her body began to flicker in and out of existence. _"Heh. At least I got to go out in a manner befitting my species. Theia, thank you for everything."_

 _"Go_ _odbye..."_ Theia whispered as Robin dissolved into blue light and disappeared, leaving her alone with the two kids. _"M_ _y friend."_

* * *

1 month later

* * *

Theia was at her wits' end. She'd taken the kids and had managed to sneak onto a plane to Johto, hoping to find a herd of Ampharos to take them all in. However, when they arrived in Johto they were promptly discovered in the plane and had barely managed to escape into the forest. They searched for a month before finally finding a herd of her kind, and she was overjoyed at finally having a place to call home. What she didn't expect was for the herd to turn her away, citing her uniqueness as a draw for trainers that would endanger the stability of their lifestyle. With the last chance for normalcy stripped from her, she'd been forced to resort to roaming the woods with her entourage in an attempt to survive. At least she'd found a location that was lush with edible vegetation.

 _"Here's hoping that we can find somewhere to stay for a while."_ She thought as she munched on the stalk of a plant. _"If not, we're all going to die this winter."_

Reshiram (having long since shed the plume of fur on her front that signified immaturity) fled from the Zekrom who'd once been her mate, flying away as fast as possible in a desperate attempt to escape. At her wit's end, she transformed into a Dratini and slithered away into a forest, curling up around a nearby rock as her mind shut down from the stress and terror of the last few hours.

A few hours later, she woke up to a small child holding her tightly and jabbering to an unseen adult. Squirming wildly, she attempted to pull away from the surprisingly strong child, eventually giving up due to the lacking strength of her current body. _"If they capture me, I swear to Arceus I'll never live this down!"_ she thought, flushing as she caught a glimpse of the adult. _"No, down girl. No matter how tantalizing it is to transform again and try to seduce her, I've got to hide! It would never work out, so I shouldn't wish for what I could never have either way..."_

Slumping into the child's arms, she was pleasantly surprised to find the hold loosening before she felt a quick burst of energy in the background. As the other Pokemon looked around wildly for the source of the power, Reshiram immediately paled, recognizing the signature energy of Arceus' portals.

 _"No no no, not now! Don't do this to me, Arceus!"_ she mentally begged, not wanting to face her ex-mate for the rest of her immortal life - and now that she thought about it, her afterlife as well. Despite her desperate pleas, she and every living thing nearby flashed into the Hall of Judgement but a moment later, leaving naught but a small campfire behind to prove they were there.

* * *

The gathered legendaries looked at the opening portal in irritation and ever-growing impatience. Reshiram still hadn't shown up, infuriatingly enough, and everybody just wanted this meeting to be over with. Seeing the portal flash a bright white, they started to sigh in relief before recognizing the figures and choosing to groan in annoyance instead. _"Reshiram, we know you're in there! Come out, or we'll make you!"_ Kyurem called out, and a Dratini slithered out from the pile of bodies with a distinctly disgruntled expression.

In a plume of white light, Reshiram grew to full size and glared at the audience that would pay witness to her humiliation. _"Alright, I'm here. What is it?"_ she bit out, trying to mask her terror under a facade of bravado and annoyance. Shuddering minutely as Zekrom blew a mocking kiss at her, she barely paid attention to one of the many legendaries' spiel about how she should show more respect to them, especially with how they'd just been waiting for her. _"Look, I don't really care right now. What. Is. It?"_

 _"As you must certainly know by now, Zekrom and you are mates."_ Arceus began, ignoring her muttering of how it was assuredly not by choice with practiced ease. _"And, as he has brought to my attention, you have been shirking your duties for in favor of staying around the nest. Naturally, we found it necessary to convene in order to settle this dispute."_

Reshiram let out a long, deep exhale and turned a blazing glare on the Alpha Pokemon, her eyes burning with a cold fury that would not, no, could not yield if it wanted to continue burning, its' very concept threatened if it bent to Zekrom's will. _"As you should also know, I am the Dragon of Truth. If I was to lie here, I would lose my entire sense of self, no, my very concept due to my actions. So, you had better believe me when I state that I have in no way been shirking my duties, except if you count 'duties' as laying down and allowing him to have his way with me whenever he wants."_

 _"Zekrom, what do you have to level against these accusations?"_ Arceus turned to the second of the Tao Dragons, who still looked as smug as ever.

 _"Nothing, except that I am upholding my duty as the dragon of ideals."_ Shocked, all the legendaries turned to face the dragon, who shrugged carelessly. _"You can't replace me anyway, and all I have done is enforce the commonly spread ideal of male dominance,"_ he stated, face nearly split with a vicious grin. Realizing they were trapped, as if they told him to stop he could legitimately tell Arceus they were trying to kill him, the legendaries were about to give up before hearing _"Tauros shit."_ from the only non-legendary Pokemon in the room.

 _"And who exactly are you?"_ Zekrom asked icily, already charging an aura of blue electricity around him. _"If you are here to try to kill me by denying me my concept, then I must ask you to leave before I make you."_

 _"Okay, how many of you have been to earth recently?"_ Theia asked, nodding when only Reshiram and Zekrom made noises of confirmation. _"That's what I thought. What he's spewing may have passed for truth in the very distant past, but now that ideal is practically dead. As I have been born on earth and have been on earth for an extended period of time recently, I can wholeheartedly state this with no doubt in my mind. He may be embodying an ideal, but it's so thinly spread and mocked that it is nearly dead. Even if you doubt this personally, Reshiram is the dragon of truth. Can't you just ask her to see if I'm sincere?"_

Rapidly nodding, Reshiram answered the others' unspoken question with a simple reply of _"She's telling the truth."_

 _"Tch!"_ Zekrom spat out, his tone laced with vitriol. _"Even if that is true, there is still a need for a dragon of ideals. As there is no other Zekrom alive at the moment, there is nothing you can do to remove me from my post."_

 _"And if I offer to take up this position instead?"_ Theia responded, ignoring the gasps of shock and outrage from around her. _"May I endeavor to take Zekrom's post through trial by combat?"_

 _"Indeed,"_ Arceus replied, nodding regally before teleporting everybody to a massive coliseum made of solidified purple-black space-time and dotted with stars. _"You may attempt to take his position. However, I feel obligated to remind you of the obvious - this is in no way going to be easy."_

Looking Arceus in the eyes, Theia grinned. _"I wouldn't have it any other way."_

 _"THE CHALLENGE FOR THE POSITION OF THE DRAGON OF IDEALS SHALL BEGIN IN FIVE MINUTES!"_ Arceus bellowed, rearing up on her hind legs as she projected her voice throughout the coliseum. " _IN FIVE MINUTES, THE TWO CONTESTANTS SHALL DO BATTLE IN THE ARENA OF THE HEAVENS! NEITHER POKEMON THAT SHALL BE IN THE RING IS ALLOWED TO USE MOVES DURING THE BREAK, AND THE LAST POKEMON STANDING SHALL RECEIVE THE TILE AND ALL IT ENTAILS!"_

 _"Good luck, then."_ Arceus smiled at her. _"And prepare for the fight of your life."_

Ignoring the ominous comment, Theia ran back to Harry and Ash, both of whom looked incredibly confused. Giving them a smile and a hug, she led them to Reshiram and asked the dragon of truth for a favor. _"Do you mind watching them during the match for me? I can't think of anyone else here that I would trust with them."_

Upon receiving a solemn nod in response, Theia walked down the stairs to the arena and waited for Zekrom to appear, prepared to fight and win. Not just for herself, but for the children she'd come to view as her own and the very concept of ideals as well!

 _"I think I might have gotten myself into something a little outside my weight class this time..."_ she thought before proceeding to discard that train of thought entirely. _"No, I'm right where I need to be, and I'm fighting for something other than myself. My breakdown of his ideals has already weakened him, and I'm sure I can at least match his current power. I need to be here for the world, the kids, and myself, and I will rise to this occasion as best I can."_

* * *

 _"Thank you for challenging me to a battle for my position, false dragon. I promise you this; your life will end here, just as I have ended the others who have stood against me and my ideals."_ Zekrom rumbled, yellow electricity sparking between his claws.

 _"Aw, I bet you say that to all the pretty girls,"_ Theia mocked, blowing a kiss at him. _"However, you've got to work on your pickup lines. 'False dragon' is so outdated - I find the term 'forcibly modified' far more accurate."_

 _"It matters not whether you are natural or a human-made abomination - you will still fall before me!"_ Zekrom growled, muscles tensing in anticipation as he waited for Arceus to call the start of the battle.

 _"BEGIN!"_ Arceus bellowed, and the two dragons rushed at each other as electricity crackled to life inside the stadium. Forming a quick **_Protect_** , Theia used the energy construct to deflect Zekrom's **_Dragon Claw_** before jumping up and slamming a _**Focus Punch**_ into his abdomen. As her much taller opponent reeled back from the unexpected impact, she shot a few _**Dragon Pulses**_ into his face before jumping out of his reach, narrowly avoiding the spikes of **_Earth Power_** that had just erupted from where she was just standing. Activating **_Charge_** , she fired off a few **_Zap Cannons_** at the rapidly recovering Zekrom, who proceeded to roar in fury and charge through the barrage of electricity, grabbing the surprised Theia and slamming her into the ground.

Falling into an **_Outrage_** , he whaled repeatedly on the hastily constructed **_Protect_** , pulling back to deliver the final blow to the shield when a trio of **_Power Gems_** shot into his back. As he roared in pain, Theia dropped her shield and blasted him with an overcharged **_Dragon Pulse_** that knocked him halfway across the arena, cracking his armor and giving her the first blood. As she stood up and repeatedly used **_Charge_** to build up for her next attack, Zekrom got to his feet and gingerly touched the cracked armor, hissing in pain as it dripped a deep red stream of blood.

 _"You have proven to be powerful."_ he rumbled, and his tail began to glow a bright blue as a massive corona of electricity crackled around him. _"I think it's time that I stop playing around."_

Not bothering to launch a retort as her opponent erupted in a pillar of blue lightning, Theia narrowed her eyes as her hair fanned out, each orb inside charged enough to launch a **_Thunder_** at Zekrom. Suddenly, Zekrom appeared right in front of her, slamming an electrically charged fist into her **_Protect_** before picking it up and hurling it into the stadium wall with a massive CRASH. Taking a moment to recharge, the **_Fusion Bolt_** encased dragon rocketed towards the incapacitated Theia, who merely grinned tauntingly in response to his ever-nearing frame. As he drew even closer, the ground began to launch itself at him in massive flurries of _**Power Gems**_ , each impact serving to fuel his rage further as he smashed through all of them and his hand drew ever nearer to her neck.

Suddenly, the air reeked of ozone, and a massive lance of bright yellow lightning blasted through his own electric shield, blasting him into the other side of the arena and drilling a hole through his armor. Theia hadn't come out unscathed either, as he'd taken the opportunity to slam an **_Earth Power_ **into her as she recovered from the massive discharge of electricity. Stumbling back out onto the field, Zekrom roared as he jumped into the air, an unbelievably massive sphere of blue electricity crackling around him as he gathered all of his might to smash the insect far beneath him.

 _"Oh, you're finally using your trump card?"_ Theia nervously grinned, already using multiple Charges to prepare herself for the next clash of attacks. _"In that case, I might as well use mine too."_

 _ **"B̴͙͙̞̒̎̚͝Ṍ̶͈̏L̸̬͚̪͛̅̌T̸̥̤̂ ̸̮̼͓͚̍̊͐̌S̵̢͖̖̗͋̂́T̵̖̖̻̽R̴͍͉͔͔̊̾͠͝I̴͍͐̓K̶̢̥̘̈́̽E̴̺͇͊̅̉!̷̥̦͔̜̄"**_ Zekrom bellowed, shooting down towards the yellow dot that was Theia. He was Zekrom, the Dragon of Ideals and the second Tao Dragon! He would squash this uppity Ampharos if it was the last thing he'd ever do!

 ** _"Thunder Dragon's Proclamation!"_** Theia roared back, and a tightly condensed purple and yellow lance of electricity shot towards the heavens, the two colors trailing off from the attack as the draconic energy and lightning blended together in the heart of the spear of light. The two attacks collided, and for one brief moment everything went white as the two clashed in midair before detonating in a cataclysmic explosion.

* * *

Struggling to stand up as the backlash from her most powerful move racked her body, Theia moaned in agony as she finally managed to balance herself. _"Well,"_ she thought as she staggered over to the downed Zekrom. _"If that didn't take him out, nothing will. Even if I had anything more powerful, everything is fried (both figuratively and literally) for the next couple hours anyway. Here's hoping that I got lucky."_

Gazing over the barely moving Zekrom's body, Theia sighed in relief as she saw the massive hole drilled through his chest. If she'd been even a little weaker, that wouldn't have worked and she would have been left to the tender mercies of the Fusion Bolt. _"It was a good fight,"_ she told the fallen dragon as Zekrom drew his last breath.

 _"Indeed."_ he breathed out as his body finally went still. _"Indeed it was."_

Taking one last moment to close the corpse's eyes, Theia fell on her back and panted as Arceus proclaimed her victory to the cheering legendaries. Despite the agonizing pain, she couldn't help but laugh in victory as she was teleported to the infirmary. Even as she fell unconscious on a hospital bed, she wore a brilliant smile - both for her victory and for the sheer joy she'd felt radiating from her kids.

* * *

A few hours later

* * *

 _"All hail the new Dragon of Truth, Theia!"_ Arceus bellowed as the other legendaries roared in approval. Turning to the slightly unsteady Theia, Arceus's rings lit up with a brilliant light, forming an orb of crackling blue and white light between the two of them. _"This power shall be both your salvation and your eternal torment as you forever strive to uphold it. Do you accept this burden?"_

Nodding solemnly, Theia reached out and gingerly touched the orb of light, erupting in a whirlwind of electricity and light that obscured her from view as her body began to warp from the influx of power. As the light dimmed, the gathered crowd saw her seven-foot-tall figure standing proud and tall with her new wings spread behind her, chest and wings both clad in black armor that gleamed in the dim light of the Hall of Judgement. Staggering towards Reshiram as she adjusted to her new body, Theia smiled in thanks as Harry and Ash ran up and hugged her. _"Thanks for taking care of them. I know they can be a bit of a handful."_

" _Excuse me, but do you mind if I tagged along with you for a little while? Sorry if I'm intruding on anything, but I want to thank you for taking care of Zekrom."_ Reshiram asked, trying to hide her blush at Theia's incredibly attractive new form.

 _"Sure! I need somebody to talk to anyway-"_ Theia began as they were teleported out of the Hall, trailing off as they appeared on an unfamiliar beach. Harry and Ash immediately began running around excitedly, kicking up sand as the two dragons watched in bemusement and mild annoyance at Arceus' shenanigans

 _"...and also somebody that hopefully knows where we are."_ she finished, unable to keep a hint of irritation out of her voice. _"So, do you know of any way we can disguise ourselves, or are we going to need to sneak around to find out where we are?"_

 _"Well, we can transform into humans. It does take some practice, though..."_

* * *

Ash and Harry watched as their mother talked with the other Pokemon, both incredibly disappointed that they couldn't understand either of them.

 _"I wish we were just like them!"_ Harry pouted, Ash nodding furiously in agreement before they resumed their game of tag, both of them squealing in delight as they kicked up plumes of sand while darting around the beach. Unknown to either, the last remnants of Harry's magic had latched onto their desire with the ironclad grip of a drowning man and had granted the request with the last dregs of its' strength. As Harry was about to tag Ash for the third time, they both exploded in a massive flash of light that immediately drew the adults' attention. What had just been a hand turned into a white-furred gauntlet, claws in place of fingers as a thin white fuzz spread over Harry's body. As the other arm replicated his transformation, his legs developed the same spiky white fur and his shoes exploded off his feet, revealing large paws with three massive claws each. The transformation rapidly spreading to his head, Harry's hair turned bone-white as it grew out and reached the middle of his back, Reshiram's distinctive tail sprouting from his tailbone with a bright red glow inside. Naturally, this threw him massively off balance and sent him plunging into Ash's back, the magic funneling into the other boy and stopping Harry's own transformation.

Ash's body grew a thin film of yellow fuzz, black armor shot through with yellow veins of electricity forming around his forearms, lower legs and chest as Zekrom's tail sprouted from his lower back in a surge of yellow electricity. As he opened his mouth to laugh at the unexpected tickling sensation, his teeth sharpened into fine points and his black hair grew yellow highlights as electricity crackled around them, striking the suddenly aflame Harry and blasting the two apart. As the two unconscious bodies flew apart, the transformation stopped as Harry's magic died down, naught but the most minor sparks of power remaining as the two legendary Pokemon rushed to collect the two kids.

 _"Sadly, I do remember this place,"_ Reshiram grumbled as she tended to the white-furred Harry. _"And with what I know of the residents here, they'll be here any moment now."_

As she turned to face the waters of the cove that the beach lined, three figures pulled themselves out of the water, two of the figures already preparing attacks. _"What was the surge of energy, and why have you invaded our beach?"_ one of the Primarina asked, ignoring Theia's indignant confusion at his exceptionally brusque question.

 _"...Sometimes, I hate being right."_ Reshiram groaned in annoyance before she began to explain what had just happened to the increasingly unamused guards.

* * *

Harry woke up in a dark room with a loud groan, strips of woven seaweed covering his hybrid body in a makeshift blanket. Looking down at himself, he laughed in glee and threw off the green sheet with a dramatic flourish. "This is awesome!" he giggled, twisting his hands around to get a better look at his claws. "I look just like the white dragon!"

Hearing a quiet whimper in the corner, Harry spun around to find a cowering Popplio, its' emaciated frame twitching in terror at the unfamiliar creature. _"What in Arceus' name are you?"_ she whispered in horror, pushing herself even harder into the tent's wall as Harry walked towards her. _"Please don't hurt me!"_

"Could you please speak up?" Harry asked, not noticing her face falling at those words. "I can't hear you."

 _"Oh."_ she spat, her voice still not above a whisper. _"So they sent you to mock me as well?"_

As she began to slide away, Harry grabbed one of her flippers and pulled her back to his body, ignoring the stream of water she spat at him in response. "What did I say?" he asked, the confusion bleeding into his voice calming the Popplio down as she realized her mistake.

 _"Everyone here takes pride in how loud they speak or sing."_ she sighed, curling up on the ground next to the strange creature. _"I can't make any sound louder than a whisper, and my tribe hates me for it. They say that I 'let them down' by being as quiet as I am."_

 _"That's dumb,"_ Harry responded after a few moments of stunned silence. _"Your tribe is dumb."_

 _"...my name is Cordelia. What is yours?"_ Popplio eventually asked, stunned that anyone would take her side over the tribe.

 _"I'm Harry!"_ he grinned at her before picking her up. _"C'mon, let's go meet my family!"_

Carrying around an extremely worried Cordelia, Harry ran around the small island where the Primarina and their families lived until he ran into Theia and Reshiram, both of whom were talking with the elder of the tribe in charge of the cove.

 _"I am well aware that this is a minor incident, but I can't afford to allow you to leave. I'm already unpopular as it is among the tribe, and the only reason I'm still in power is because of my experience in leading it. If you were able to do anything to help the tribe, I'd let you go, but as it is..."_

 _"You are aware that you can't exactly hurt us in any meaningful way, right? Even if you did capture us, what makes you think we wouldn't just escape?"_

 _"Theia, you are horrible at these negotiations. May I take over?"_

 _"Whatever. I was merely pointing out a few important facts."_

Having recognized Theia's voice, Harry ran forward and called out to her, still carrying a mortified Cordelia. _"Mommy! I made a friend!"_

 _"That's great, Harry. However, this might not be the best time-"_ Theia began, only to be cut off by the Primarina elder's excited interjection.

 _"No, wait, you can indeed do something for me! See, the tribe despises Cordelia for barely being able to speak. If you take her with you, not only would she have a better life, but I'd gain back a significant amount of their favor!"_

 _"While I have the distinct feeling that this is less about the kid and more about your popularity, we will nevertheless take you up on your offer. Cordelia, would you like to live with us?"_ Reshiram immediately offered, looking for any option to get out of the cove without an excessive show of force.

Springing at the chance to escape, Cordelia nodded frantically as grins split her and Harry's faces. Having just met the only people willing to show her any kindness thus far in her life, she'd desperately latched on to them and the idea that she was worth something, not the useless and nearly mute waste of space that she'd been told she was all of her life. Even as the elder subtly glared at her when he brushed past, it still didn't bring down her mood - she was too overjoyed to care about the elder's distaste.

 _"Let's go, before they can object again! I don't want to be stuck here!"_ Theia hissed, looking around wildly before picking Harry up and flying away, Reshiram picking up the still-unconscious Ash and catching up to Theia a few seconds later. Landing a few minutes later in a nearby clearing, Theia gently put Harry and Cordelia down before heading over to talk to Reshiram.

 _"I'm totally out of my depth here! Even ignoring the fact that Harry (and quite possibly Ash, though we have no evidence as of yet) seems to have spontaneously learned how to speak Pokemon after transforming into a weird hybrid, we're still without a home in an unfamiliar region with two kids that are going to be massive attention magnets and a clearly neglected pokemon. Do you have any idea on how to fix this situation?"_ she hissed in Reshiram's ear, desperately trying to hide her growing panic from the still-celebrating children.

 _"Well, we could always fly back to my nest on the outskirts of Unova. I mean, it should still have enough food to get Cordelia back to a normal body weight."_ Reshiram tentatively offered, wincing at the thought of the long flight that would inevitably follow. _"Alternatively, we could try to transform into humans and try and eke out a life here, but I have no idea if there's a human settlement nearby."_

 _"You know what? I don't care anymore. Let's just go to your nest, rest up and get used to life on earth as a legendary Pokemon, and then get as far away as possible from Unova because I am in no mood to deal with Team Plasma again."_ Theia groaned after a few minutes. _"Harry, Cordelia, get back over here. We're going for another flight."_

* * *

The next day

* * *

As our exhausted heroes landed in front of a massive mansion hidden in the wilderness, Theia turned and stared in utter disbelief at Reshiram. _"You called this a nest?!"_ she asked before her expression solidified into one of apathetic acceptance. _"I don't care anymore. Please, just tell me that it has some real food and a warm place to sleep."_

" _Well, you're in luck on that front."_ Reshiram stepped forward, transforming into her human form, a graceful white dress and long, flowing white locks rippling in the wind as she unlocked the doors. "This has plenty of food and a soft bed to crash in. Sadly," and at this, she cast an amused look at the increasingly irritated Theia, "You're too tall to enter the doors without transforming into a human. Sorry, but until you manage that you're kind of stuck outside."

Growling in annoyance, Theia screwed up her face as she fervently concentrated on assuming her human form. Slowly, her body morphed into that of a human clad in a yellow sundress, her long black hair shot through with white and red highlights that matched her crimson eyes. Still holding the sleeping Harry and Cordelia, she marched across the threshold and halfheartedly glared at the other legendary.

"Can we please just get some Arceus-damned sleep now?"

* * *

a few weeks later

* * *

As Harry, Ash, and Cordelia goofed around in the yard surrounding the mansion, Reshiram and Theia reclined on the porch chairs in a rare moment of peace and quiet.

"You know, as much as I like the kids, they can be a right handful at times. Ah well, I still wouldn't trade them for anything." Theia smiled up at the sky. "By the way, what's the situation on the upcoming move? I know you've been having a little trouble finding a realtor..."

"I have some good news on that front." Reshiram grinned triumphantly. "I recently managed to get in contact with a company based in Kanto, and there's an open house for sale in Pallet Town. Apparently, the previous owner had recently moved to Viridian City, and the property was listed at a surprisingly cheap price considering that it's prime real estate. For Arceus' sake, it's five minutes away from Professor Oak's laboratory!"

"Wow." Theia whistled. "That's a stroke of luck. I assume you just bought it outright, or..."

"Yep. Honestly, I'm just glad we're moving out of here in general. This place has some bad memories for me."

Sitting together in silence, the two legendaries enjoyed the quiet Unova afternoon while it lasted... which was approximately another five seconds.

"Hey, mommy! We made some more friends! One calls herself Snivy, and the other says he's called Mareep! Can they stay with us like Cordelia does?" Ash called over to them as he played with Mareep, trading light shocks and giggling as Harry became Snivy's unofficial chair.

"This is never going to change, is it?" Reshiram sighed, turning to face the similarly laughing Theia.

"The question is, would you ever want it to?"

* * *

Nearly six Years Later

* * *

"WAKE UP, ASH!" Harry yelled, smacking his sleeping brother awake. Today was the day that they were going to get their official starters, after all, and they couldn't afford to chance it by having one of them sleep in too late. Harry had woken up early in the morning in preparation, but deep down he'd known that he'd need to wake Ash up as per their usual routine. Once he heard the telltale sound of Ash punching his alarm clock across the room, he immediately stalked into the room and slapped his brother awake, having found out long ago that things like air horns and normal alarm clocks did not work on his brother.

"Seriously, Ash. You need to wake up! If you don't wake up soon, you're going to miss the distribution at Oak's Ranch!" Harry informed him, causing Ash to grumble as he slowly sat up in bed.

"Why is it so early?" he groaned before shooing Harry out of his room. "You don't need to worry about me falling asleep again. I'll be down in ~yawn~ a few minutes."

Hearing Ash close the door behind him. Harry headed downstairs and found Theia and Reshiram sharing a kiss as they read the newspaper. Ignoring the fairly common sight, he turned on the stove and pulled some pancake batter out of the fridge. As he prepared the family's breakfast, Ash stumbled downstairs, fully dressed despite still being half-asleep, and collapsed into a chair at the table.

"At least we have pancakes." he groaned, slumping forward and burying his face in the napkin. "It makes waking up this early worth it."

"What about the starters?" Harry asked, confused. "Wouldn't they make it worth it as well?"

"...Somehow I'd managed to forget about them." Ash admitted, and they shared a quick chuckle at his expense before resuming their normal morning routine.

* * *

"Today is the day you receive your starter! You can choose one of the following choices: Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle. However, as there are four people here today, we have found it necessary to capture another Pokemon. As such, you could also choose a Pikachu as your starter." Oak lectured the four trainers as they stared at the four pokeballs in front of them, each marked with a sticker that matched the starter's type. Pushing his way to the front of the line, Gary looked back at the others with a smirk as he grabbed the ball that held Squirtle and poked Ash in the chest.

"I'm taking the best starter and there's nothing you can do about it, Ashy-boy." he sneered. The brothers simply looked at each other before bursting out into laughter, irritating the cocky teen enough to send him stomping outside of the ranch. Wincing as she heard the loud squeals of Gary's cheerleaders, the only girl in the group chose the Bulbasaur.

Knowing that Ash would want the Pikachu, Harry picked up Charmander's Pokeball, idly stashing the ball on his belt as Ash profusely thanked the professor for finding him an electric-type starter. Oak cleared his throat once more, stepping forward to give the remaining three backpacks of pokemon-related goodies.

"According to the recent league mandates, each professor must give the recipients of the starters a care package. Inside of these backpacks are a town map, your Pokedex, and five pokeballs. Aside from that, each of you also are receiving 500 poke dollars in your new trainer account, which can be accessed from the Pokedex. Gary has already received these this morning, so there's no need to worry about that."

Thanking the good professor, the three left the ranch, dutifully ignoring the grandstanding Gary and the loud revving of his car that only was slightly softer than the excited squeals of his cheerleaders. "So," Ash began, turning to their female companion. "What do you want to do on your journey, Leaf? I'm going to try and become an electric-type master, and Harry just wants to see the world as it is."

She quietly laughed before she responded. "I want to see the world as well, but I primarily want to form a team of friends. I'll see you two on the road."

* * *

Harry laid down on his bed, ignoring the loud ZAP of electricity from Ash's room. Choosing their starters had gone surprisingly well, all things considered. He'd honestly expected Gary to try and start a fight, but he probably should have expected that Gary would restrain himself around his grandfather.

 _"How did it go, Harry?"_ Cordelia asked, hoisting herself up onto the bed.

"It went surprisingly well! Could you please wake up the others? I have some important news for the team." he told Cordelia. Nodding gracefully in response, she let out a sharp whistle that let woke up the rest of the team in an instant. Serperior cooed out a _'good morning'_ as she slithered up around his neck and nuzzled his face gently. Harry's Dragonair, whom he'd found as a Dratini when he'd gotten lost in the Safari Zone, curled up in his lap and gently bumped his head into Harry's side. An Eevee jumped on top of Serperior and licked his face repeatedly, leaving Harry laughing from the tickling sensation.

Honestly, he was just happy that she'd recently opened up to him. She'd initially lived in the famous Evolution Town, and had been taken care of by her trainer Mikey and his three brothers. Her nestmates were there as well, but she was the runt of the litter and as such was treated poorly by her three evolved brothers. With both her old trainer and her desperate to prove their elder siblings wrong about how she was weak, they distanced themselves from their families as they trained to remedy the situation. However, Mikey felt that the training wasn't giving them enough if a boost in power, and he turned to desperate measures in an attempt to defend them. When Eevee fell asleep after a long day of training, he pressed a Fire Stone, a Water Stone, and a Thunderstone against the tired pokemon. As the evolution of energy coursed through her body, she woke up and thrashed around at the incredible pain that she was in, eventually knocking the stones into each other and causing a feedback loop of power.

The stones burst in a massive plume of light after that, and Mikey was left with stone shards in his arms as he glared hatefully at Eevee for not evolving. As he reached for her, grabbing another trio of stones from the pile he'd brought in yet another attempt to force her to evolve, she struggled to her feet and ran away as fast as she could. For an entire day, she ran, ignoring the pain and exhaustion as she fled her old life and the pain that it had brought her. As the day drew to a close, she'd collapsed in the forest, only to be found by Harry on his way back home. He'd rushed her back to his house and healed her immediately, gaining some of her trust due to the sheer concern that he sported for her condition. Eventually, they'd found that she was unable to evolve via a stone when Ash had accidentally dropped a thunderstone on her head as he was trying to evolve his Pikachu. Of course, this had devastated her upon its discovery, but over the years she'd felt more and more relieved that she'd never evolve into the same forms that her old family chose. In the end, she'd agreed to join his team less than a month ago, and they had celebrated that day joyously.

Harry was snapped out of his reminiscing as the last member of his team tottered over and bumped her head against his leg. The Amaura cooed in delight at seeing her father, cuddling up to him as he reached out of the pile of Pokemon to rub between the sails on her head. He'd actually gotten her egg from Xerneas and Yveltal as a birthday present (2), and he was pleasantly surprised when it hatched into the adorable, albeit nearly extinct Pokemon who immediately took to him as her father. It was also slightly embarrassing, what with Theia's comments of 'I'm too young to be a grandmother' and Reshiram's constant fussing over her. Either way, she was surprisingly powerful for her species and had quickly become a member of his team.

Returning to business, he quickly got their attention and began. "Now, today is the day I became a legal trainer. As such, I have two pieces of information for you. I can now capture you and make it so it's impossible to take you away, and we've got a new teammate due to me needing an official starter. I'll capture you first, but after that we'll take a moment or two to get to know our or new teammate, okay?"

After they'd all conveyed their agreement, he quickly captured them before letting them back out of their balls. Pressing the button on Charmander's Pokeball, he grinned happily as Charmander began to wake up from his stasis-induced nap. "I wonder how Ash is doing?"

* * *

1 hour later

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Harry began, trying to keep his face neutral. "When you released your Pikachu, it immediately tried to zap you, only for you to accidentally transform into your hybrid form and reflexively absorb the electricity, which awed the Pikachu so much it swore undying loyalty to you. It's now trying to woo your female Alolan Raichu with some level of success, and every other electric-type you've been taking care of had caught themselves while you'd been dealing with that situation." he summarized, barely holding in his laughter at the look of sheer disbelief on Ash's face. "Well, this situation certainly was shocking. Let's head out, shall we?"

Taking a few minutes to pack some food for both them and their Pokemon, they hugged their parents and walked out the door to begin their adventure. However, this dramatic moment was somewhat ruined when Ash slapped Harry upside the head.

"That's for the lame 'shocking' pun." he snapped, Raichu and Pikachu snickering at Harry's misfortune.

"...Totally worth it!"

* * *

Deciding to enjoy the nice day on their way to Viridian City, the brothers set up a picnic slightly off the main path and released the entirety of their teams. As they ate their food, they chatted and joked around as they slowly attempted to ease the new arrivals into their teams. Of course, this peace was not to last, and a large plume of smoke went up in the distance as a roar of "GYARADOS!" shook the forest. Hearing a loud, feminine scream of terror, both Harry and Ash recalled their teams and ran towards the source, finding an orangette trying to defeat a Gyarados with a Staryu that kept being smacked away by the much larger Pokemon. Deciding to help the idiot out, Harry released Amaura and told it to use _**Freeze-Dry**_ , turning the rampaging creature into an ice sculpture in a second.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT HERE, SERVANT!" the orangette screeched. "THAT RESCUE TOOK TOO DAMN LONG! AS PUNISHMENT FOR NOT IMMEDIATELY RESCUING YOUR GOD, MISTY WATERFLOWER, YOU'LL NEED TO BE MY SERVANT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, AND KISS MY BEAUTIFUL FEET!" she proclaimed 'triumphantly', completely ignoring the dumbstruck looks on everybody's faces. "WELL?! GET ON WITH IT-" she began once more, only to be blasted off into the distance with an **_Energy Ball_** \- courtesy of Serperior.

"Well... that was something. I'm not sure what it was, but it was something." Harry shrugged as Ash gaped, still trying to process what just happened. "Let's just forget about this, shall we?"

Nodding fervently, Ash shut his mouth and they headed back to their picnic as they resolved to forget about the incident entirely. While they headed back to their afternoon of enjoyment, Misty fell through the skies and landed on top of a massive trash pile.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" she bellowed, stamping her foot on the increasingly unstable hill of trash. "THOSE PEASANTS HAVE DISGRACED THEIR GODDESS- AHHH!"

Suddenly, the hill of trash under her collapsed, sending her into a pool of liquid garbage that had gathered in the hollow hill. For a moment, everything was silent, and then the forest shook with a loud, mournful cry of utter disgust.

"What was that, Harry?" Ash asked, hearing the wail of disgust.

"Comeuppance, Ash. Comeuppance and a healthy dose of laser-guided karma."

* * *

 **Thank you for rereading the first chapter, and thanks for everything!**

 **(1) I.e. this extremely annoying example. Sorry, but this likely is going to be at least somewhat necessary.**

 **(2) They were obligated to, having lost a few rounds of a strange human game called 'poker'. If they'd won the round of betting, they would've gotten to organize a massive wedding between Theia and Reshiram. Sadly for Xermeas and Yveltal, they lost, and Amaura was the result.**


	2. The Journey Continues!

**(rewritten as of 8/31/2019)**

* * *

Harry looked at the imposing Viridian walls with a sense of unease, the recent newspaper articles about Team Rocket activity suddenly engraved in the front of his memory. Apparently, one of their main hideouts was in Viridian, and the exact location was still unknown despite the copious assistance from Giovanni. Logically, he knew that the actual odds of encountering the team were slim to none, what with the obvious power of his and Ash's Pokemon, but he'd found that Ash was a trouble magnet beyond compare. Then again, he wasn't exactly in any position to criticize someone else's luck...

As Harry pondered the hypocrisy of his statement, Ash smacked the back of Harry's head. Ignoring his brother's glare at the sudden assault, Ash turned a stern eye on his brother. "Look, I get that you're worried about Team Rocket and their continued presence in Viridian. If we were anyone else, that would be understandable. After all, even the most basic of Rocket grunts have Pokemon that are more trained than the average starter. However, you appear to forget the multiple fully evolved Pokemon that we have in our teams. Unless they happen to have a team executive and specifically target us, we should be fine, and how likely is that to happen anyways?"

Harry slumped in relief, revealing that no, he'd not thought of it in that way. "Sorry Ash, it's just... remember when mom told us about her time in Plasma? I just don't want to take any chances when it comes to this, and we're not any more durable than regular humans when not transformed. If anything happens when we're sleeping, then..."

"Then our Pokemon will recognize it and take care of it for us." Ash bluntly stated, beginning to get annoyed at Harry's paranoia. "We are unknown to them. There is quite literally no reason for them to target us in any capacity aside from random chance, and if you keep on babbling on about what could happen, I'm going to get Pikachu to change that with a controlled shock."

"Geez, fine." Harry held up his hands in surrender. "Excuse me for trying to keep us safe. Now, let's hope that we didn't just jinx ourselves as we find the Pokemon Center and check in for the night."

* * *

After checking in at the gates of Viridian, the brothers strode through the city until they found a map terminal. Taking one of the proffered maps, Harry sat down on a nearby bench and located the Pokemon Center as Ash took the opportunity to look at the various adverts out of idle curiosity.

"Hey, Ash!" Harry called out, looking up from the folded paper at his suspiciously still brother. "I found where the Pokemon Center and the gym are! I also found the location for the Pokemart as well, so we should probably stop by there later today."

When Ash gave no visible or audible response to Harry's brief info dump, Harry frowned and stood up, strolling over to his brother's stationary figure. As he got closer, he noticed people beginning to shy away from the sudden stench of ozone, releasing glares at the Pikachu and Alolan Raichu on the preteen's shoulders as they placed the blame on the two (unusually silent) electric types. Peeking over his brother's shoulder, Harry winced as he saw what had caused Ash to have his current meltdown - the front page of a tabloid, proclaiming **'Delia Giovanni: Pregnant Pokemon Prima Donna?!'** to the world (1).

"Come on, Ash." he whispered, wrapping a comforting hug around his brother in all but blood. "Let's find the center. We can talk about this in more privacy there."

As he released Ash from his embrace and they headed towards the center, Harry swallowed nervously as he saw a very distinctive car in front of a fancy restaurant. _"Gary, if you have any common decency or any desire to survive unscathed by the end of the day, please don't show up to taunt Ash tonight. I only barely stopped a meltdown in public, and I don't think I'll be able to stop him again nearly as easily."_

* * *

a few hours later

* * *

Eating at the restaurant inside of the Pokemon Center, Harry tried to reassure his brother. "Ash, you are aware that we're here for you, right? Theia, Reshiram and I are just as much your family as your missing sperm and egg donors, and nothing can change that. What's more, unlike those people, we're not going to abandon you. We're going to be here for you, for as long as you need us to be."

Ash remained silent for a few minutes, continuing to slurp down his bowl of noodles as Harry continued to desperately try to placate him. Eventually, he turned to Harry, a weak, wobbling smile on his face as tears streamed down from his eyes. "I'm fine, Harry. Really, I'm fine! It's just that-"

"Hey, Ashy-boy!" Gary interrupted, swaggering over to Ash's stock-still figure and ignoring Harry's frantic gestures to stop. "Good to see you here! Can't have my main rival being slow in areas aside from academics. Shame about those genetic defects, but what are you going to do about- _urk!_ "

"Gary," Ash whispered, his hand wrapped tightly around Gary's throat. "I just learned that my birth mother is in Viridian and is pregnant with another kid. At the moment, I'm dealing with a massive surge of bad memories relating to her, and I can't promise your continued existence if you continue to go down this route. Now, I'm going to release you, and we're going to start this conversation again. Got it?"

Gary nodded frantically, and Ash released him with a shove that sent him sprawling on the ground. As Gary massaged his bruised throat and got his breathing back under control, Ash wilted from Harry's absolutely livid glare. "Ash, I am well aware that you are dealing with some serious abandonment issues right now, but that does not give you the right to strangle another person!"

"Fine, _Dad_." Ash growled back, finding a backbone in snark. "How should I apologize? How about, I'm offering you a verbal compensation for a potentially collapsed trachea and windpipe that could very easily suffocate you. Please accept these empty platitudes. Sorry Gary, but I'm not in the mood for this anymore."

As Ash stomped away, Harry turned to Gary and solemnly shook his head. "That's probably going to be the best you're going to get from him tonight. Still, I'm sorry about that. You just picked a horrible time to try and push his buttons."

"No shit, sherlock!" he gasped out, standing up. "What the hell was that?"

"Well, when one person _really_ wants to hurt somebody else, they enact a technique called 'strangulation', which -"

"Very funny, jackass!" Gary snapped back, crossing his arms. "You know what I'm talking about! Why did he snap when I was just on my basic taunts, and what the hell is wrong with him? He's supposed to be the more cheerful and slightly stupider of the two of you, but instead he just turned into a massively angsty jerk that's isolating himself!"

"Sorry, but that's personal, and I quite honestly think that you've done enough damage already. Now, if you'd excuse me, I need to go take care of my little brother."

* * *

"Ash?" You in there?" Harry asked, poking his head through the doorway of their room.

"Yeah, come on in. We need to talk either way." Came the sullen reply, and Harry took the invitation to sit down next to Ash, closing and locking the door behind him.

"So, mind telling me why you reacted so badly? I mean, I understand the basic reason, and you never have taken abandonment well, but this seems like a bit of an overreaction."

Ash exhaled deeply, and turned to face Harry with tears in his eyes. "I reacted so poorly because it was the last possible bridge that could be burned between the two of us. I hate her, and I hate everything she stands for, but she was still my birth mother. As long as I was her only kid, there was still a unique, otherwise unshared connection between the two of us. With that article, well, I realized that the last thing binding the two of us together was lost."

 _"That sounds incredibly convoluted and mostly unwarranted."_ Harry thought in disbelief. _"He hasn't seen her since he was four, for Arceus' sake! Besides, he's said repeatedly that he's moved on. What's changed now?"_

"Just... please sleep with me tonight. And NO, not in that way, jackass!" Ash snapped, glaring through tears at his suddenly cackling brother. "I need somebody to ground me, okay?"

Stopping his mad laughter, Harry grinned tenderly at his brother. "Of course." He whispered, wrapping his brother in a hug. "For all that I may mock you or laugh at you, this is not one of those cases. You're my brother, and if you need me to be there for you, I'll be there to support you all the way through. I love you, Ash."

"Thank you, Harry." Ash grinned back in genuine relief, and they fell asleep, curled up next to each other like they did when they were children.

Meanwhile, Nurse Joy was staring in abject horror at the door from outside before she silently snuck away, having overheard snippets of their conversation.

 _"That dirty kid!"_ She thought, her mind flooding with both utter horror and burning-hot anger. _"You can't just ask your own brother to sleep with you! You have to be some kind of degenerate to initiate that! I hope I'm just overreacting..."_ (2)

* * *

Later that night

* * *

Ash yawned as he extracted himself from Harry's grasp, absentmindedly scratching his head as he stumbled out of their room.

 _"Where is that bathroom?"_ he wondered, looking around the dark hallways before hearing a massive _CRASH_ reverberate through the building.

Shocked fully awake by the loud noise, he gathered his wits and raced towards the main lobby, only to find Nurse Joy backing away from two humans and a Meowth that were posing dramatically.

"HEY!" he called out, stepping in front of Nurse Joy. "Who are you, and why did you break in through the skylight?"

"James, shall we do the motto again?"

"Damn right!"

"Meowth! Let's do this!"

As Ash watched in befuddled confusion, the trio began posing dramatically once more as they began to perform their motto. After a few seconds, he turned around to face Nurse Joy, his annoyance battling with his confusion for dominance as he asked, "So, who are they? Please tell me I was woken up by someone that's actually important, and not some overly dramatic thieves or something stupid like that, because I will be royally pissed if that's the case!"

"They're Team Rocket, though, judging by their clear propensity for performance art (what with their poses and motto), I'd say that these fall under the category of 'dramatic grunts' in the organization." She responded, practically spitting out the words as she glared over his shoulder at the group, whose posing had only grown more ridiculous as time passed. "If you have any Pokemon on you, now would be a great time to call them out. They're finishing the motto."

"No need." Ash grinned as he turned around, stepping forward to confront the three criminals. "Now, I can assume that you three aren't going to leave without a fight, no?"

"You've got that right, twerp." the female (Jessie, according to the little that he'd heard of their motto) smirked at him. "James, Meowth and I aren't going to leave until every last Pokemon in the building is ours."

"Well," he grinned maniacally as he transformed into his hybrid form, **_"̴̰̪̀̓H̸̨͇̔̃͜ȯ̶̠͚w̷̛͍͙͓̓ ̸̨̫́ä̴͇̭̜́̔b̴̳̥̘̔ŏ̸̰̳̝͊͝ṷ̴͊̓̚t̶̜̼̋̾ ̷̝̏͠n̸̻̊o̷͙͋w̴̝̳͆?̶̥̌̀͑"̷̗̬̩̍̉_**

The three visibly hesitated, shrinking back as the static-voiced _abomination_ stepped towards them and the air around them began to reek of ozone.

 ** _"̴̢͊͋̒͘͜͝ͅO̷̡̝͙̜̐̍̏Ū̵̜̮̲͕͔̉Ť̴̡̲͔!̷̡̔͐͂̉"̷͇̪͕̄̇̀̆̌_** it roared at them, and they abandoned all pretense of courage before fleeing out the door and into the night.

 ** _"I feel that you don't need me to remind you to keep this a secret,_ _right?"_** Ash turned to Nurse Joy, and transformed back at her shell-shocked nod. "Great. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to bed for the next four or so hours."

* * *

Early the next morning, Harry and Ash walked out of the Pokemon Center, Harry casting a concerned look at his brother upon noticing Nurse Joy's reaction to Ash's presence.

"Ash... what exactly did you do to make the Nurse Joy so terrified of you?" he asked hesitantly, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"I frightened off the Team Rocket grunts that attacked the Center last night with my hybrid form before reminding her to keep it a secret!" he cheerfully responded, and Harry facepalmed at this.

"Okay, one - I fucking called it that we'd run into them." Harry groaned, turning to face his brother. "Two - are you out of your Arceus damned mind?! We've been repeatedly told to not show those to anyone, let alone criminals and a registered League worker!"

"Oh, relax. It's not like we're going to run into them again - and why do I have a sudden sense of foreboding about this entire adventure of ours?"

"...great, my brother's an idiot that's only now realizing that this is bad." Harry straightened up. "You know what, I don't care anymore. You do you, and I'll just do things my way. Besides, the gym's up ahead, and I want to focus on the upcoming battle."

"Sure thing." Ash shrugged, and the brothers walked the rest of the way in resigned silence.

As they approached the building, the two guards in front of the building crossed their spears in front of them and spoke in unison, "You wish to challenge Giovanni, Viridian City gym leader and the strongest of them all? Well, only one challenger may enter at a time, and we must warn you - it is a poor idea to proceed with this venture."

"I'll head in anyway," Harry said as he stepped forward. "It's not like one gym battle can be that hard, especially not a first-badge battle."

"Then on your head, so be it." the guards declared, uncrossing their spears as the massive stone doors behind them swung open, revealing a dark corridor behind them that was only barely illuminated by the morning sun. Harry stepped in, and rapidly vanished into the darkness as the guards shook their heads in pity. "Poor fool. Nobody has won the Earth Badge in years, and that's not going to change anytime soon."

"And why not?" Ash bit out as he glared at them. "A first-badge battle is not that difficult!"

"You might not have noticed this, but Giovanni doesn't accept anything less than an eighth-badge challenger. Aside from that, he's also gotten someone else to guard against those that he deems too weak to battle..."

* * *

Deep inside the darkened building, an armored figure hovered over an empty arena, comfortable in its' solitude. Suddenly, it looked up, staring at nothing as it began to quietly laugh to itself.

 _"What a surprise. A challenger on the first day? They don't even have all their badges yet, and I'm without my disguise. Well, it appears that I might find myself getting some more practice with my powers..."_

As the figure shook with laughter, it floated down to Giovanni's throne/chair and spread its' influence throughout the building, blue eyes glowing as it prepared to carry out its' mission.

 _"This will be fun..."_

* * *

Meanwhile, in another dimension

* * *

Dumbledore smiled as he sucked on a lemon drop. His plan was progressing perfectly thus far! It's a shame that he needed to keep renewing James' compulsions, as they were complicated magic, but he'd been putting them in place since the Marauder's seventh year. With the already existing base and the power of the Elder Wand, it wasn't too difficult to renew them. Now, if only he could just keep all of the petrified students at Hogwarts sufficiently under the radar...

* * *

 **(1): Well, technically the front page read: 'Delia Giovanni: Pregnant Pokemon Prima Donna?!** **Could Her New Nidoking be the Father?' and 'Is Lieutenant Surge in a Relationship with Fellow Gym Leader Brock Slate?!', although Ash really only managed to read the very first part before shutting down. It was just a sensationalist gossip rag that was attempting to start a scandal. However, Ash doesn't know that...**

 **(2) She later decided that while it's quite possible that she might have misheard or missed parts of the conversation, it was still worth informing her fellow Nurse Joys about as a safety measure. And thus, word spread among the Joys about the incest-loving degenerate, and their opinion of Ash was permanently soured - all because they neglected to read the sentences after the initial warning.**

 **Wow, it looks like it's quite a bit later than it should be at Hogwarts! I wonder if the universes experience the passage of time differently? (Obvious hint is obvious)**


	3. The Plot Thickens

**QUICK RECAP! (Updated 8/31/2019)**

 **Harry's team:**

 **Himself (a human/Reshiram hybrid)**

 **Charmander (Male)**

 **Primarina (Female)**

 **Serperior (Female)**

 **Dragonair (Male)**

 **Eevee (Female)**

 **Amaura (Female)**

 **Ash's team:**

 **Himself (a human/Zekrom hybrid)**

 **Alolan Raichu (female)**

 **Pikachu (male)**

 **Ampharos (Female)**

 **3 unseen pokemon**

 **Disclaimer - I don't own anything. I never have, and I never will. Now, please get these lawyers out of my house!**

* * *

Harry strolled through a darkened corridor, eagerly fingering a Pokeball. It was his first gym battle after all, and he was raring to go and beat the crap of of critters for money and prestige ( _"That sounded better in my my head,"_ he thought sheepishly). As he approached a second set of double doors, he froze in place, held by the telltale blue glow of a _Psychic_.

" _You are not welcome here. The gym leader has decided to travel the region this month. Leave, before I make you."_ a voice rang through his head, and he was released from the move and telekinetically spun around to face the entrance. Undeterred, Harry turned around to try and locate the source of the **_psychic_** , but was held in place by the telekinetic grip once more.

" _It seems you don't understand what 'leave' means."_ the voice popped up again, dry and slightly malicious amusement present in its' tone. _"I will have to rectify that."_

Suddenly, Harry was flung backwards by an almighty force, flying back through the corridor, out the doorway, and into a mattress hidden in the woods behind the gym entrance for that exact purpose. Ash rushed over to help him up, but he shook him off and glared at the two snickering guards.

"You knew." he accused the duo, their laughter not stopping.

"Of course, kid." one wheezed out, still chuckling as he straightened up. "Why do you think we told you this wasn't the best idea?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the 'potential death by being flung through metal doors'." Harry shot back as Ash cracked his knuckles. "You are aware that having a psychic that is that trigger-happy isn't the best idea?"

"Kid, we honestly aren't paid enough to care. Besides, that's what the mattress is for." the other guard informed him as both settled back into position, prompting Harry to throw up his hands in exasperation and leave, Ash not far behind him.

 _"Don't worry, Harry."_ Serperior yawned as she once more curled around his upper body, having moved to avoid being crushed between him and the mattress. _"All we need to do is come back later, and hopefully that psychic will be removed from the premises."_

"I know, but it's just frustrating." he groaned as they arrived back at the Pokemon Center, Ash checking them out as he packed up their stuff. They met in front, nodded to each other, and set off towards Viridian Forest.

* * *

Ash grumbled in irritation as the two brothers pushed through the lush undergrowth, only Eevee and Raichu able to stay out due to their relative subtlety and desire to not battle everything in the general vicinity. If they tried to blast their way through, they'd trigger a swarm of Beedrill, and neither particularly wanted to fight through an nigh-unending swarm of extremely irritating Pokemon. Sadly, this meant they were forced to manually push through the very thick plant life -

"Hey! I challenge you to a battle!" a kid in samurai armor yelled, both Ash and Harry facepalming before turning to each other to discuss who'd battle him. Sadly, they had to deal with idiots like this - more specifically, their whining after they beat their Pokemon quickly as to avoid triggering a Beedrill swarm. Seriously, who challenges a Raichu with a Caterpie of all things!

"You want to take this one?" Harry offered as the kid released a Pinsir and loudly proclaimed that this battle was to redeem himself for losing to a trainer called Gary Oak. "I kind of want Eevee to rest a little- after all, we've taken the last few challengers."

"Sure, sure." Ash waved Raichu forward, the Mouse Pokemon snickering with vicious glee at the opportunity to battle on it's own. Ash lazily looked on as the Pinsir charged at his Pokemon, Raichu leaping to the side and launching a quick **_Thunder Wave_** before slamming the paralyzed bug with a powerful _Brick Break_.

"No, Pinsir!" the wannabe samurai cried out, his pokemon struggling to its' feet. "Quick, use **_Guillotine_**!"

Righting itself, the Stag Beetle Pokemon charged once more, its' horns glowing bright white and developing jagged edges as it neared the yawning Raichu. Right as Pinsir was just about to land the move, Raichu dropped to the ground and smashed her electrically charged tail into Pinsir's knees, electrocuting the bug-type and causing the move to dissipate from the shock. It fell to the ground in a dead faint, the kid wailing in horror as he rushed over to his fallen Pokemon.

"How dare you?! Paralysis and other status conditions are dishonorable!" he wailed as Raichu bounded back Ash's side, sighing in disappointment at the lackluster battle.

"Look, the only thing keeping you from being great is that mindset. If you captured some other bug types and learned to use their talents, such as Butterfree's propensity for status - and you're not listening to me are you?" Harry sighed as the kid dutifully ignored his advice. "Fine. Ash, your turn to deal with him."

"Listen, I don't really care about being 'honorable', as you put it - I'm more worried about getting through the forest without having to deal with a massive swarm of Beedrill." Ash snapped back, the long day having grated on his nerves somewhat. "Besides, unless you plan to stay in Viridian Forest your entire life, you'll find so many people that use status conditions that your reaction wouldn't even be funny to watch."

"You lie!" the boy shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at the two brothers. "This is a world of honor, and - oh, crap." he whimpered before returning his pokemon and fleeing, having heard the stirring of a swarm of Beedrill.

"...that Arceus-damned Gogoat-fisting sack of shit! He aggravated the damn Beedrill!" Ash swore as he released Pikachu and Ampharos, both of which snapped to attention after hearing the distinctive buzzing reverberate throughout the forest.

"Well, if he was trying to prove that this was a world of honor, I think he just disproved his claim with his own actions. It seems that honor isn't what it used to be. What a shame." Harry dramatically sighed, recalling Eevee and releasing Cordelia and Dragonair. "Shall we see who can take out the most?"

 _"Absolutely!"_ Dragonair eagerly nodded. _"Hey Ampharos! I bet I can knock out more than you can!"_

 _"Oh, it's on!"_ Ampharos grinned back, the gem on his head beginning to glow a bright red.

 _"Sorry to interrupt your little competition,"_ Cordelia sniffed, already preparing a **_Sparkling Aria_**. _"But if you haven't noticed, they're right on top of us!"_

The first wave of Beedrill dove towards the intruders, stingers outstretched and dripping with venom as they neared the (assumed) offending party. Unintimidated, Primarina fired off her attack, soaking the Beedrills' wings and knocking them out of the air. As they fell towards the ground, Raichu froze them in place with a quick burst of psychic power, allowing her to shock the bug-types with a widespread _Thunderbolt_ that knocked all of them out. Meanwhile, Ampharos and Pikachu began repeatedly firing **_Thunder_** and **_Thundershock_** at the oncoming swarm to soften them up, Dragonair following suit with multiple **_Dragon Pulses_** as his horn glowed with purple-white light and he actively called up his own draconic energies.

"This is going to take a while." Harry groaned as the forest seemed to turn yellow from the sheer numbers of Beedrill. "If that's the case, I might as well let the rest of the team get in on the fun."

With that, he released the rest of his Pokemon, each bolting over to him and forming a defensive line circle around him. Charmander shivered in fear, not wanting to deal with another Beedrill swarm after his first experience venturing through Viridian Forest before, but ultimately growled defensively as he steeled himself, smoke wafting up from the sides of his mouth. Eevee growled in pure, unrestrained fury at the assault on her trainer, already charging up a **_Shadow Ball_** to blow a few out of the skies they were diving from. Amaura froze the groundwater around her, the mass of ice shattering and orbiting around her as she prepared an _**Ancient Power**_ to punish the oncoming attackers. Serperior simply cocked one eye open in irritation, the ground around her cracking open as the forest responded to her call.

"Get ready, everyone! With any luck, the swarm won't be too big, and we'll be able to get out tonight! It'll be some nice, impromptu stress relief. If you get tired, let me know, and I'll call you back in. Here's hoping that Ash and I don't need to intervene, though." Harry grinned as the sky and forest darkened once more, and the Beedrill fell upon their small group.

* * *

A few hours later

* * *

Harry transformed out of his hybrid form, a massive groan of annoyance and disbelief escaping him. "Where the hell did they keep coming from?! Seriously, did we draw all of the swarms in Viridian Forest or something?!"

Everyone in his team had long since been recalled, their stamina having run dry after an hour or two due to the sheer number of attacks they were firing off. Despite this, the massive swarm of Beedrill had kept coming, not bothering to cut their losses and run. In the end, him and Ash had to transform and essentially nuke the oncoming swarm, finally signaling to the swarm that attacking might not have been the best idea.

 _ **"Probably."**_ Ash grunted, staying transformed to recharge his Pikachu's and Raichu's electric sacs. **_"Now, I'm tired of trudging through the underbrush without any real progress. Come on out, Rotom! You too, Vikavolt!"_**

The two pokemon popped out of their Pokeballs and snapped to attention, the palpable aura of irritation surrounding their trainer enough to make them immediately serious and on guard.

"Rotom, you scout ahead for an open clearing - find the quickest route and stick to it. Vikavolt, you stay here. Guard against any further attacks, and when Rotom comes back, discreetly cut a path through. Oh, and for clarification, I mean the route that is quickest that is humanly possible. I don't want to have to try and leap a gorge to find a clearing or town or whatnot."

Rotom bobbed up and down eagerly before darting into the bushes, disappearing from sight as soon as it entered the thicket. With Vikavolt standing guard, Harry finally relaxed, reaching into his discarded pack in order to find the healing items he needed for his team. Ash followed suit, removing the recharged Pikachu and Raichu in order to drop his transformation.

"Thank Arceus I'd packed so many antidotes and potions." Harry grumbled as he dumped five cans on the ground. "If I didn't, we'd be left relying on Serperior and **_Aromatherapy_** , which would at most be a stopgap measure."

"Don't worry about it!" Ash laughed, slapping Harry on the back. "After all, we could always just blast our way through to Pewter City if that was the case. Besides, you brought enough to heal our teams in the first place - and I'm sure you have more in there."

"True, but knowing our luck, we're liable to encounter a horde of Muk by the time we find the next clearing." he tossed an Antidote and a Potion to Ash. "I'd rather be paranoid and overly prepared than relaxed and unprepared to deal with the shitstorm that is constantly blowing our way, so heal Ampharos up ASAP."

"Oh please, what could happen now that would worsen our situation?"

As if on cue, three figures jumped out of the forest, posing dramatically. They were the Team Rocket members that had attacked the Pokemon center the previous night, and they were seeking revenge.

"Prepare for trouble-" the Jessie managed to get out before she and her two companions were blasted off into the sky by twin **_Thunderbolts_** , courtesy of Pikachu and Raichu.

"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Harry groaned as he released Serperior and got to work, Ash following his actions with Ampharos and an abashed grin.

* * *

A few minutes later the bushes rustled and Rotom came flying out from them, buzzing excitedly as he fluttered around the brothers.

"Hey, Master! You know how you asked me to find a clearing? Well, I did you one better! I found you a city!" he buzzed, his usually mischievous smile one of extreme pride.

Harry and Ash jumped to their feet in excitement, both eager to finally leave the forest. Their Pokemon had been treated for their wounds, and the distance to Pewter City was apparently small enough to be travelled in a few minutes. They had no reason to stay in Viridian Forest, and quite honestly they never wanted to come back - the journey through was far too annoying for their tastes.

"Well then, lead the way!" Ash beamed, mentally promising to give Rotom extra electricity that night.

And so off they went, Vikavolt cutting through the foliage that blocked their way as Rotom led them out of the forest and onto a hill overlooking Pewter City. As the sun finally touched the horizon, they summited the hill and looked over the city, basking in the dying red glow of the sun as the bustling city began to quiet. Taking a moment to thank Arceus for being so close to the city when they were lost, they set off towards Pewter, looking for the Pokemon Center.

* * *

As the Pokemon Center's doors swung open, Nurse Joy looked up to greet them with a smile on her face, only to grimace upon seeing Ash.

"Oh great, another pervert." she grumbled, ignoring Ash's look of complete and utter confusion.

"Look, we just made it through Viridian Forest, and we're just here to rest before we challenge the gym." Harry tried to pacify her, stepping between the Nurse Joy and the irritated Ash. "If it makes you feel any better, I can keep an eye on him tonight."

"Sure, kid." The Joy tossed a room key at Harry, which he caught and promptly pocketed. "Just keep the pervert away from me - I have enough trouble dealing with the gym leader's constant propositions as it is."

Harry nodded gratefully and pulled the grumbling Ash away, leading them down a hallway into the residential section. Upon finding the room, Harry turned to Ash with a faux serious look in his eye.

"I should take our pokemon back to Nurse Joy. After all-" he began, only to be cut off promptly by Ash shoving his pokeballs into Harry's hands and snatching the key away.

"Oh, screw you!" Ash bit out and stomped into the room, leaving a perfect opportunity for Harry.

An evil grin splitting his face, Harry replied in the most appropriate way possible, given the situation. A very inoffensive, tasteful, and very sensible reply of-

"I wasn't aware you swung that way!"

I stand corrected.

Ash howled in pure fury, slamming the door and leaving a wildly cackling Harry to take their pokemon back to the front desk. He calmed down on the walk there, his face losing the maniacal grin it had once possessed as he reached Nurse Joy and gave her the pokemon.

"So, what's the situation? Are they severely injured, just exhausted, or poisoned to the distortion world and back?" she raised her eyebrow as she took the ten pokeballs from Harry. "I heard the swarm of Beedrill earlier, and this isn't my first time dealing with a trainer that tried to foist the responsibility of a soon-to-be-dead pokemon onto this center."

"No, that's not it. My brother and I gave them some treatment after fighting the swarm, I just want to make certain that they're in peak condition." he assured her, to which she sighed in relief as she stood up and whistled for her Chansey.

"Well, you're already smarter and more prepared than most trainers that come through here." she smiled, her more gruff demeanor vanishing as she headed into the back room. "It'll be an hour or so in all likelihood, so, just wait in your room and I'll call you when I'm done."

"Just one more thing! Eevee is a rescue, but she's had bad experiences with other people. If you're just treating her, she'll accept it, but don't try to pet her or do something like that unless you enjoy dodging **_Shadow Ball_**."

"Kid, the league trains us to deal with difficult pokemon. How bad could it be?"

* * *

1 hour later

* * *

Nurse Joy slammed the door open, a hole blown through her signature hat. She stomped over to Harry, who'd remained in the lobby and read a magazine. As she loomed over him menacingly, he peered over the top of his magazine nonchalantly, not giving any response other than a raised eyebrow.

Finally, Nurse Joy had had enough of their nonverbal standoff and bit out "What. Happened."

"I'd told you that she had problems with other people and that she was a rescue. It was up to you whether you took my advice or not." he shrugged, turning to the next page.

"Fair enough, but what I didn't expect was for her to nearly blow my head off when Chansey picked her up! What's more, when I looked at her scan, she has far too much evolutionary energy running through her! How has she not evolved yet, and more importantly, how has she not died yet?!"

"Would the answer 'her former trainer was an abusive prick' satisfy you?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes and putting down the magazine when he saw her grow increasingly irritated. "Fine. Remember the Evolution Town scandal? She was one of the main victims of it, and now she can't evolve via a stone due to the assholes that resided there. Happy now?"

She deflated at that, her posture slumping as she tossed the chain of balls back to Harry, who deftly caught it. "Sorry kid, it's just that I'm required by law to ask, just in case. Believe me, I didn't like that accusation any more than you did."

"Eh, no harm done." He waved her off, standing back up and cracking his back. "Goodnight, I guess."

"Goodnight."

With that said, they went their separate ways, Harry heading back towards his room while Nurse Joy headed back to her office to do paperwork and (possibly) sleep.

* * *

The next day

* * *

Harry woke up, cracking his back as he stood up and stretched out. Mumbling incoherently, he turned around and accidentally tripped over Serperior as he headed to the bathroom. Incensed at having her rest disturbed, she threw a singular, blunt _Razor Leaf_ at Harry's retreating back to signify her irritation. Unfortunately for her, he'd reached the bathroom and closed the door already, the swirling green construct rebounding off the thick, translucent plastic and smacking Serperior in the face.

Not hearing his Pokemon spewing vitriol in the room behind him, Harry stepped into the shower and turned the water to the highest possible temperature available.

"AAAAUGH! THIS IS COLD!" he yelled, the near-scalding water feeling like a cold shower to his naturally hot body. He immediately jumped out of the shower, his clothes sopping wet and his long, black hair flopping down limply. They immediately began to steam as they clung to his body, both clothing and hair drying out and dewrinkling like they'd just been ironed.

Woken up, he brushed his teeth and stepped out of the bathroom, stopping suddenly when he heard a long stream of curse words coming from his Amaura.

" _...INCONSIDERATE LITTLE FUCK!"_ Amaura finished proudly, beaming up at her gaping 'father'. _"How did you like it, dad? Serperior taught me it!"_

"Okay, we're leaving that until after the gym battle." Harry weakly proclaimed, picking up his jaw from the floor. "Now, if memory serves me right, Ash will be-"

SNOOORK!

"Sleeping like there's no tomorrow." he finished weakly. "Okay, after he wakes up, we'll go challenge the gym. Understood?"

Getting a few nods, he smiled weakly. "Great. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go unleash some primal screams of rage and despair. Don't mind me, just... processing. So, yeah... IGNORE ME!"


	4. Time to Rock and Roll

**Good news, everyone! With my other story completed (please don't read it, it's absolute crap), this is going to be my main story that I'll focus on. I'll also be updating the first two chapters to correct some of their more egregious mistakes, so you'll also get a better story overall! Thanks for all the support!**

….

Having finally calmed down, Harry took a moment to make himself a cup of coffee and sit outside on the balcony. "You know something?" he spoke up, scratching behind Amaura's fins as she cooed and leaned into his reassuring touch. "For all that you guys can and do irritate me with your occasional antics, I still wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."

Nestled between his chest and Serperior's coils around his neck and body, Eevee let out a soft call of _Eevee_ and gently licked his face. He laughed slightly, and the snoozing Charmander and Dragonair shot him annoyed glances before they adjusted and settled back down on his lap. Next to him, Cordelia smiled quietly at their interactions before basking in the rising sun's rays. For all of their occasional bickering and jabs at each other, this was their family. They'd do anything for each other, and would continue to stick together for as long as they lived.

Naturally, this scene of pure serenity and camaraderie wouldn't last forever, and a half-naked Ash burst out onto the balcony, yelling "DAMNIT HARRY, GET MOVING! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!"

Having just taken another sip, Harry choked as the remainder of the coffee flowed down into his lungs, sputtering as he tried to regain control of his breathing. Eevee stiffened up and dug into his chest as Serperior tightened her coils in shock, unintentionally knocking all the air and a good volume of coffee out of their trainer. Dragonair, woken by the wheezing gasps, shifted to block the spray of coffee as Charmander spit a small fireball in shock.

"OH ARCEUS MY SCHLONG!" Ash yelled in utter agony, the fireball having set his pj's alight. "Ah, that's better. OH FUCK THAT'S TOO COLD!"

As Amaura (unintentionally) turned him into an ice cube, Cordelia had already reared up and fired a pressurized jet of water at the assumed attacker, blasting him into the doorway and shattering the ice. Suddenly, the door swung open, nailing him in the groin as Nurse Joy looked around frantically. "I heard loud noises and loud coughing! Is everything alright…" she trailed off as she looked around and saw Ash's, shall we say, involuntary manscaping.

"Excuse me while I go bleach this incident from my memory." she stated as she swung around and closed the door, leaving behind a bunch of sheepishly laughing pokemon, and two pained trainers.

"Well," Harry wheezed out, having finally regained his breath. "Now that that little bit of impromptu comedy is over, let's put some clothes on and head out to the gym." he finished with a meaningful look at Ash, who only managed to groan out "my balls" as a response.

….

As they headed over to the gym, each ready for the upcoming battle in their own ways, they joked around and needled at each other playfully, eventually knocking on the door of the gym. It swung open, and they stepped into a dark room lined with darkened stands.

"Look, we already know this trick. Voice projection and a lack of light isn't going to scare us, you know." Ash frowned, tapping his foot impatiently as the lights switched on to reveal a grumbling Brock, leader of the Pewter City gym and his many pouting siblings.

"Fine. If you're that eager to lose, step right up." he proclaimed before turning to face his siblings. "By the way, if any of you interfere like you did last time, I'm forfeiting the match immediately."

"But the arrogant guy was going to hurt your Onix with his Squirtle!" one of the girls called out, and Brock fixed her with a disapproving stare.

"That may be true, but Onix is my partner. They willingly offered to battle in order to maintain our reputation and the sanctity of the league. For you to interfere in the battle like that not only damages our credibility in the eyes of the league, but it also damages what Onix was fighting to maintain. If you truly care, you'll stay out of this battle."

Grumbling, the kids grudgingly agreed, and Brock turned back to Harry and Ash. "So, which of you will be challenging me first?" he asked, hands already straying to the pokeballs at his side. "This is your first badge battle, correct?"

"I will, and yes." Ash declared, stepping forward as Harry headed off to the bleachers. "However, you might want to up the difficulty up just a wee bit. My brother and me aren't exactly regular trainers after all.

"Tch! Fine." Brock grinned as he pulled out a different pokeball. "You asked for it! Go, Graveler!"

As the Rock Pokemon appeared on the field and grinned, Ash beckoned for Raichu to hop off his shoulder, and she bounced onto the field with a wide, mischievous grin. Taken aback at this (normally) extreme act of idiocy, Brock stumbled over his words for a moment before beginning the battle.

"Alright then! This is a battle between Brock, Pewter City Gym Leader and the challenger! Each side will use two Pokemon, and when all of one trainer's Pokemon are unable to battle, that trainer loses the battle. Switching out is against the rules, and items are forbidden. Challenger, are you ready?"

"More ready than I've ever been in my life!" Ash grinned.

"Then let the battle… BEGIN! Graveler, use **_Rock Throw_**!" Brock ordered, the Graveler already hurling twin boulders at the Mouse Pokemon.

Evilly snickering, Raichu blasted the two boulders with a quick **_Thunderbolt_** before a ring of electricity encircled her. Eyes alight with battle lust, Ash called out **_"RAILGUN!"_** as Raichu blasted herself forward, a quick **_Agility_** allowing her to plant a _Brick Break_ into the Graveler's craggy carapace and blast it back with the electrically-charged shockwave. Barely standing, the Graveler rolled itself up into a ball and launched itself towards Raichu, its' body glowing a bright white.

 **" _Explosion!_ "** Brock ordered, and it detonated right above the mouse with a massive shockwave that nearly blew off Ash's hat. Unfortunately for the unconscious Pokemon, its' efforts were for naught, as when the smoke cleared Raichu was left standing with a green sphere of energy surrounding the slightly tired Mouse Pokemon.

 **" _Protect._ "** Ash smugly retaliated, grinning at the disgruntled expression on Brock's face as he recalled Graveler and tossed out his next Pokemon, a large Rhyhorn.

 **" _Earthquake!_ "** Brock practically roared, and the Rhyhorn reared back before slamming down and sending a wave of tectonic devastation towards the cheeky mouse. Jumping off the ground and using a quick **_Magnet Rise_** to keep itself afloat on its tail, Raichu blew a mock kiss at the infuriated Spikes Pokemon as it charged up for its next move.

 **" _Surf!_ "** Ash commanded, and Raichu obeyed, using its powerful psychic abilities to fuse together a massive amount of hydrogen and oxygen molecules before condensing the result and launching it at the charging Pokemon. In short, Raichu created and tossed a big-ass wave of water at Rhyhorn from thin air.

 **" _Horn Drill!_ "** Brock commanded, and Rhyhorn lanced through the oncoming wave, aiming to K.O. the unbelievably annoying Pokemon with one attack.

Raising an eyebrow at the rapidly approaching & spinning Pokemon, Raichu grabbed hold of it with a _Psychic_ before slamming it into the ground, generating a massive plume of dust and knocking Rhyhorn out.

"The challenger wins!" Brock declared, recalling Rhyhorn and heading over with a slightly strained smile to Ash. "Did you have to use a Raichu, though? Surge won't stop laughing at me for months! Regardless, you've earned your badge."

He handed it over to the ecstatic Ash, who rushed over to the stands in order to show Harry and strike a goofy pose. Smiling at the childish interaction, Brock beckoned Harry over as he took his position once more.

"You've already heard my spiel about the rules. Are you ready?" Brock asked, and Harry nodded his assent, pokeball in hand. "Then let the battle begin!"

Both tossed out their Pokemon, an Amaura and a Graveler exploding out onto the field, ready to battle. "She's a beauty." Brock acknowledged before turning serious once more. "We can discuss this once the battle is over. Graveler, **_Rock Tomb!_ "**

As large rocks flew towards the Tundra Pokemon, hurled by a madly grinning Graveler, Amaura exhaled once… and a wall of ice sprung up to block the rain of boulders. Forming multiple rings of **_Ancient Power_** that orbited her small frame as the wall shattered under the assault, she launched a barrage of prehistoric stones at the Rock Pokemon, smiling slightly as it curled up and rocketed towards her with **_Rollout_**. As it got within a few feet of her, she used **_Iron Head_** and slammed into it, sending it flying in an unexpected display of strength.

Grinning evilly at Brock's mind short-circuiting from that sight, Harry called out "Great job, Amaura! Now, **_Ice Age_**."

And with that, time seemed to stop for a brief moment before massive spires of ice sprung up from the field and a blizzard kicked up inside the arena, Amaura smiling as she looked over the frozen Graveler. As Brock recalled the Rock Pokemon, she let the storm die down, coating the arena in a thick layer of ice and snow.

"Onix! Use **_Rock Slide_**!" Brock ordered as he tossed his companion out, the massive rock snake launching dozens of large rocks at the Tundra Pokemon. Undeterred, she called up the storm once more, and the frozen rocks fell to the ground and shattered. Hearing Harry call out one last command over the din of the falling snow and ice, Amaura prepared to launch a massive **_Blizzard_ **at the Onix…

"I surrender!" Brock called out, and she let the attack dissipate with a smile before running over to Harry. "You've certainly earned the Boulder Badge, and seeing as some people (and at this he glared over at his sheepish siblings) were about to interfere once again, I called off the match to prevent both the and Onix from being hurt further. Once again, good job, and do you mind if we speak about Amaura for a few minutes? I think our talk just got a bit more serious."

"No problem!" he smiled, returning the Tundra Pokemon after a quick scratch behind her ears. "Hey Ash, you mind packing up the room? I'm going to have a chat with Brock here."

….

"So, why hasn't your Amaura evolved yet? Based on the few we've managed to resurrect as of now, they all have demonstrated levels of power far weaker than what yours managed to put out - and that was immediately before they evolved. So, either yours is a notable exception, or you've got a defective fossil Pokemon that is unable to evolve." Brock cut straight to the point, leaning forward in interest as Harry desperately tried to come up with an excuse.

"Well, she was constantly firing off **_Ancient Power_** at your Graveler, and that move is known to temporarily boost a Pokemon's offensive and defensive capabilities with a bit of luck. It's possible that she got lucky and landed a large amount of boosts."

"Normally I'd accept that response, but I only heard the sound of her powering up once. Even factoring that in, she'd still be far above the average in terms of power, and I do want an answer as to why. Again, normally I'd accept that response, but she's more than twice as powerful as the previously strongest recorded Amaura even without the boost. So, I must reiterate, why hasn't your Amaura evolved yet?" Brock responded, beginning to frown at the attempted evasion.

Unknown to him, Harry was mentally panicking behind his composed exterior. He couldn't tell Brock the truth without sounding like a complete madman, and his one stalling tactic had barely afforded him any time to come up with a convincing story. "Well," he began hesitantly, deciding that he at least needed to try to remove suspicion from himself. "Do you remember that fossil revival plant that exploded a year ago in Kalos?"

At Brock's nod, he continued on with a bit more confidence in his tall tale. "Well, my family and I were on vacation nearby at the time. As you know, quite a few fossils scheduled for revival were lost in the blast, and it was assumed that most of those lost were destroyed. A day after it exploded, we found her egg in the forest. Now, we didn't know that she was a prehistoric Pokemon at the time, so we were allowed to take her home after proving that yes, we could take care of an egg without killing it. A few weeks later, her egg hatched."

"Go on." Brock prompted, leaning back in his chair. "That might explain why you have her in the first place, but it doesn't explain why she's so powerful."

"I was getting to that." Harry grumbled. "See, she hatched out of the egg nearly fully grown, a little over a meter to be more precise. The most we, and by extension Professor Oak, as we live next to him, could figure out was that when the blast flung her egg away, it supercharged it with energy and kickstarted the growing process. That would explain why she's so powerful, despite only being around a year old. As for why she hasn't evolved yet, the best guess we have is that she's not mentally mature enough to handle the sudden shift in her body. Physically, she could evolve, but it would likely leave behind quite a few negative effects until she's grown up some more."

"Is that all?" he asked, trying to appear as composed and truthful as possible to Brock. He really didn't want him looking too deep into this.

"Sure." Brock smiled, standing up and opening the room door. "You're free to go. I just needed to make sure. After all," and at this he bared his teeth in a distorted mockery of a grin, "it would be horrible if something had happened to her and if somebody was responsible for it."

"You don't need to try to intimidate me on this." Harry stood his ground, unmoved. "I was raised alongside Pokemon, to respect them and to care for them. Anyone that did anything to hurt them would be less than human in my eyes."

At this, Brock relaxed and beckoned him out of the room before tossing him his badge. "Glad to hear that, kid. Good to see a trainer with morals and real conviction these days. Come on, I'll walk you to the Pokemon Center."

….

"The only thing greater than your beauty would be my devotion to you, Nurse Joy! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!" Brock proposed dramatically, pulling out a bouquet of flowers and dropping to one knee in front of the visibly annoyed nurse.

"For the hundredth damn time, HELL NO!" she roared, punting Brock into the wall as a slightly horrified Harry watched in the background. "What do you need, kid?"

"Arceus, you're terrifying." he muttered before straightening up, ignoring Brock's cries of pain in the background. "So, Ash and I are going to be checking out soon. Which way should we go to get to Cerulean City?"

"Well, the only known safe path from this direction is Route Three, and the Mount. Moon trail after that. Anything else is unauthorized and dangerous, and the league has posted Rangers along the path to keep an eye out for any lost trainers. If you want my advice, just take the trail and stick to it. Would be a shame for you and your brother to die out there." The Nurse Joy sighed as she flopped back down behind her desk, half-heartedly glaring at Harry. "I have too many deaths on my conscience for failing to warn some of the more foolhardy trainers. I don't want another, and if you and your brother give me another two, then I'm going to go up to Yveltal, smack him until he agrees to revive you two dipshits, and then kill you again. Got it?"

"Why do you care for him more than me?" Brock sobbed, and the Joy developed a noticeable tick in her right eye.

"Alright kid, that's all I have to offer. Now, please go and pack up as I throw this idiot out." She growled, cracking her knuckles as she advanced on Brock's form. Harry rapidly nodded and ran down the corridor, eager to get on the road again. Wincing in sympathy as Brock yelled in pain, Harry rounded the corner and nearly ran into Ash, who grinned and held up his already packed bag.

"Ready to go!" he chirped out, and Harry grinned, shaking with excitement.

"Great! Give me fifteen minutes and I'll be ready to head out!"

….

Later, on Route 3

…

"So, you remember Misty? It turns out she's one of the four Cerulean gym leaders." Harry turned to face Ash, grimacing as he tore his eyes away from the guide book. "This is either going to utterly suck because she's using her gym's Pokemon, or she's going to use her own again and we're going to destroy her. Whichever way it goes, this next gym is not going to be fun."

"Can't we just fight one of her sisters instead?" Ash asked, before realizing exactly why Harry was so certain that Misty would be their opponent. "Wait, do her sisters exclusively do gym battles with trainers that have two or more badges?"

"Got it in one." Harry groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Even then, she'd request to battle us because we almost assuredly hurt her pride earlier. In other words, this is going to suck."

" _If it makes you feel better, I've been practicing a new technique recently - one that I think is strong enough to beat most opponents."_ Serperior hissed in Harry's ear, and he perked up almost immediately.

"Really? This is great!" he smiled, and marched off into the tall grass on the outskirts of the road. "Let's field-test it, shall we?"

"Damn it, Harry." Ash groaned. "For all that you tell me that I'm too shortsighted and impulsive, you immediately run off and do this on the one route reputed to be too dangerous to wander off of? Whatever. It just means I can laugh at your hypocrisy when you come back. In the meantime… hey kid, want to battle?"

….

"So, mind explaining this new move?" Harry asked as he swept deeper into the tall grass, looking for a place to test it out.

" _It's not so much a new move as it is an amalgamation of a few old ones and a large amount of carefully refined power."_ Serperior began to lecture as they stopped in a clearing. _"More specifically, it combines_ _Leaf Storm_ _,_ _Hidden Power_ _, and_ _Energy Ball_ _to form constructs of pure natural energy._ _Leaf Storm_ _provides the solid material needed,_ _Energy Ball_ _provides the base to build on, and_ _Hidden Power_ _is used to stabilize it and add alternative elements if needed. Essentially, I can make whatever I want out of my natural energy, as long as I can imagine it."_

"That sounds amazing, but what's the catch?" Harry mused, frowning slightly as he reviewed what he'd learned so far. "It sounds incredibly powerful, but, if I'm to be blunt, that just means that there's going to be a lot of backlash for using it."

" _You're not wrong, but not right either."_ Serperior eventually admitted. _"It does have one major downside? You know how I have better than average stamina and power for my species? Well, that merely allows me to use it for around two minutes, maximum. If most others in my species tried it, they'd be knocked out in a little under a minute. Just about everyone in my species finds it easier to merely use_ _Energy Ball_ _and similar moves as they are, or to use_ _Frenzy Plant_ _and_ _Leaf Storm_ _as singular-usage K.O. moves. I'm pushing the envelope of what my species can do just by attempting this."_

"Ignoring the part about it draining your reserves in two minutes, you only said 'just about everyone' in your species would faint if they used this. Are there any others that can use this technique?"

" _There are, but to my knowledge none are under a trainer's care. I've heard of others like myself in the wild that are able to use this, and I have it on good authority that some of the elders of our species have mastered it to the point of essentially being nature when it's used. However, anyone able to even fight the elders on even ground are either using legendaries or are simply seeking them out to prove their worth as a grass-type master. None of them have any delusions of the elders being captured willingly, if at all. As for the fools dumb enough to try to capture them without excessive firepower, they're knocked out and deposited outside of the forest as a warning. If they ignore it and try to capture the elder again, we're no longer responsible for what happens to them."_

" _As for the outliers,"_ and at this Serperior looked distinctly shifty, _"We tend to be up-and-coming elders, so we're secreted away in order to be raised to take their places. Most are happy with that."_

"You ran away from them, didn't you?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer to the question. "I'm guessing that there was something in the training that just crossed the line when you were a Snivy, or…"

" _Wrong."_ Serperior bit out, glaring off into the distant forest. _"It wasn't just any one thing. I wanted to see the world, to make companions, to be able to fail and not shatter everyone's hope and dreams. I don't want to be put on a pedestal, and I'm still hunted by them so they can do just that. I'll be honest, it's greedy and self-centered, but I'm a snake. It's in my nature."_

"Wanting to experience life for yourself isn't a sin. How many were there in your generation with similar power levels?"

" _Three, including myself, and that was only in my general area. But still-"_

"But nothing. There were others to take your place, and you weren't doing anything unforgivable by leaving."

" _It was in the eyes of my family and community. In fact, I believe my relatives are some of the most determined hunters in the search for me. After all, what is the happiness of one worth when compared to the satisfaction of the masses?"_ Serperior weakly chuckled.

"Well, screw them. Just like Eevee, you now have another family, a second chance. We'll follow you to the ends of the earth and back again. And if they come for you, well…" He grinned maliciously, his arm growing spiky white tufts of hair as blue flame sprung to life in his palm. "THEN THEY WILL BURN. Are you ready to show me the move now?"

Faced with the sheer earnesty and protectiveness of her trainer - no, her _master_ , there was only one thing Serperior was able to do. _"Heh… hahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_ she bellowed out, exulting in her realized freedom as her laugh released all of her concerns and worries.

" _Well, Master, there's only one thing to say to that, isn't there?"_ she bared her teeth, perfectly mirroring Harry's bloodthirsty grin in anticipation for what was to come before she leaped into the center of the clearing.

 **"** _ **Awaken:** **U̶̹̭̥̻̳͑͒̓̓̃l̶͙̽̄̓̿͝t̸͇̣̩̭̜̑̓ĭ̷̜̳m̵͓̠̝̠̕ḭ̴͉̂̅̎ṭ̷̝̰͌̎l̴̹̤͕̓́͂̾ ̷̛̤̫̅̈́̓B̶͓͇̟̳̈̏̾ḭ̴̢̎͗̀͝͝s̸̻̪͎̈́̀h̴̻͚͍̱͍̆̄̀̉͋b̷͇̑á̴̟̗͕̊̓̓̈a̷̖̯͗̿̚͝l̸̫͛̐k̶͚̣̻̇͒̆͌̐ì̵̢͈̠̣̩͗n̷̪̒̆̀͛.** **"**_

….

All around the world, grass types snapped to attention as the sudden explosion of natural energy burst into existence. Another who was one with nature had just fully realized their abilities, and for but a moment they basked in it before resuming what they were doing. However, some didn't react with the same restrained joy as most other grass-types. Off in Unova, one particular elder Serperior's mouth curled into a horrific snarl, its' two students glaring at the burst of power in utter hatred. Behind them, a collective of Snivy, Servine, and Serperior collapsed in terror as the elder let its' rage permeate the surrounding wilderness.

" _It's a shame she fled and turned traitor."_ he snarled angrily, not paying attention to how the plants around him had begun to wilt. _"With that power, she could've been great. Now, she leaves us no choice. Akiza, Draven, follow me."_

He whipped around and slithered through the crowd of unconscious Pokemon. _"We're going to Kanto."_

….

Harry gazed upon Serperior's construct of natural energy with a massive grin of delight, arms shifting back to normal as he stared in awe. A tail of green energy laid on the ground, a shield-shaped plane of energy ending the appendage. In the middle of the armored torso and arms, a sphere containing a maelstrom of energy _roared_ in delight, a melody that was both the epitome of harmony and the embodiment of entropy weaving through the air. On top of the armored titan, Serperior's head grinned down at him before the figure shrunk down to her normal size, sitting upright in the coils of her tail.

" _So, do you like it, Master?"_ she smiled, steepling her fingers in anticipation as nature's melody _sang_ in her veins. _"This is my first time using it on such a scale, after all."_

"Like it? Serperior, I love it!" he breathed out in utter awe. "It's… well, unbelievable is the only word to describe it! Just… when you said two minutes, did you mean with it on a smaller scale, or with this."

" _Don't worry."_ she chuckled. _"That was when I needed to restrain the energy from escaping in my original form. This form might only last for two minutes, true, but my natural body should be able to use this technique on a smaller scale for much longer."_

She grinned again as Harry sighed in relief before continuing with her explanation. _"Using this on a smaller scale will have much less power, but it will extend the time limit to ten minutes of nonstop use. As for this form, well…"_

She shot a singular **_Razor Leaf_** at the ground, and Harry gawked as it disappeared from sight, completely buried in the earth. _"In what it lacks for in time retention, it maximizes everything else - durability, control, speed, and power. Now, do you mind picking me up in a moment or two? I think I'm going to black out."_

With that said, the form dissipated, and Serperior fell to the ground as the melody in the air suddenly stopped. As Harry picked up the unconscious Pokemon and gently wrapped her around his neck, he stopped for a moment and listened before setting back off towards the Route.

"I don't care who it is that's hunting her." he quietly spoke as he picked his way back through the grass. "But I'll be damned if I let anyone take my family away from me. Whoever you are, watch out. You have just made one hell of an enemy."

….

"Harry! What was that about? You know you're not supposed to wander off here!" Ash shouted as he ran up to his brother, only to stop his tirade when he realized how drained both looked. "Better yet, what happened to you and Serperior?"

"I'll tell you and the rest of the team in a moment." Harry smiled wearily before looking up to the sky. "Why don't I tell everyone after we set up camp? It's getting late."

An hour later, the duo had found a camping area and had set up everything before releasing their Pokemon. Ash turned to Harry expectantly, and he leaned forward and called their eating companions over.

"So, I'm here to tell you something very important." he announced, and everybody else turned their complete attention on him. "Serperior recently developed a new technique and she'd decided to show it to me. During its explanation, I ended up finding out that Serperior is actually a runaway - more specifically, an _escapee_ from both her family and the elders of her group. She would've been forced to assume a role she'd never wanted, and would've been forced to be perfect in order to keep the others obedient and under her control if she hadn't escaped. As we're speaking, those same elders and family members are coming to take her back and forever chain her to a lifestyle she'd never want. So, who else is with me in training to make sure those bastards bleed for every last inch they take towards her? She's part of our family, after all, and you know what we do to those who harm our family…"

As the Pokemon cheered as one and resumed eating, Harry turned to Ash with a fire in his eyes. "Be ready for tomorrow, Ash. Tomorrow, we'll take Mount Moon by storm."

"I always thought we needed a little more shock and awe in our adventure." Ash grinned back, and they both turned to face the mountain's looming silhouette. "Do you think we made that a little too melodramatic?"

"...sadly, yes."

….

 **And that's it for this chapter of Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them! Hope you enjoyed, and I have a few plot bunnies bouncing around in my head for these guys, so don't worry about me running out of ideas anytime soon. Have a nice day!**


	5. Chapter 5: To Reach the Peak

A quiet, serene mountain stands silent and proud, alone in the warm Kanto morning. The Geodude are out and rolling around, the Rattata are sniffing around for food, and over there is a rare Clefairy that is poking its head out of the cave with its unbridled curiosity-

 _SLAM!_ A white-furred arm reaches up and buries itself deep into the edge of the ledge, and the Pokemon flee into the tunnels of Mount Moon. As another arm latches on to the edge, a white figure vaults up and lands in an awkward 3-point stance, only complicated by the large tail and pack crashing down on it a moment later and sending it sprawling.

"Stupid physics and stupid extra appendages…" Harry grumbled as he transformed back to normal, dusting himself off as he picked himself up off the ground. "Hey Ash, you can climb up here! Alternatively, you could try-"

He was cut off as a black and yellow humanoid shot over the rim of the ledge, smashing into the cliffside with enough force to leave a cartoon-esque outline of its body. As it picked itself out, it transformed back into Ash, who shook his head briefly before walking over to Harry.

"...Or you can do that as well. Why didn't I think of jumping?" Harry grumbled good-naturedly, before looking around and releasing Serperior. "Now, Ash, since your navigational skills led us here, I have one question. WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE WE?!"

* * *

 **Chapter 5: To Reach the Peak**

* * *

"Why didn't we keep on the path like the Nurse Joy told us to?" Harry grumbled as they trudged through the dark tunnels that ran through Mt. Moon. Charmander walked alongside his surly owner, his tail's fire illuminating the party as he played with Amaura, neither having a care in the world despite being completely and utterly lost.

"Because both of us wanted to explore, and that ended up with us getting plumb lost while you tried to lead us back to the path." Ash deadpanned, growing slightly irritated at his brother's incessant complaining. "You're not entirely innocent in this either. Remember when you left the path with Serperior, and how you got lost for a good hour on the way back?"

"That's entirely beside the point!" Harry snapped back before a flash of light caught his eye and he spun around to look for it. "What the - are those floodlights?! What are those doing here?"

As the brothers stepped into the floodlight-lit cavern and tried to blink the spots out of their eyes, they heard a loud 'Incoming!' and flung themselves to the side. A man in a lab coat came barreling out of the light, Zubats latched onto every part of his body as he desperately tried to shake them off. Stunned for a moment at the sheer absurdity of the situation, Ash and Harry watched in bewildered fascination as he charged into the dark tunnel and returned 30 seconds later, free of all but one of the Zubats.

"A little help here, please?" he begged as the Zubat continued to happily nom on his head. After Ash's Alolan Raichu removed it via a quick **_Psychic_** , he brushed himself off and flung himself at them in gratitude. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it," Ash stated, backing away from the very off man as his Raichu held him in midair with another **Psychic** **.** "So, why were you covered in Zubat?"

"Oh, they were aggravated by the lights Team Rocket set up! I've been trying to take them down for a month by now! My name is Seymour, by the way!" he chirped, and the brothers exchanged incredulous looks as he continued to ramble on. "I think they're trying to steal the Clefairy and the Moon Stone, which is absolutely massive!"

"And you didn't call the League because…" Harry prompted, only to be taken back by the sheer vehemence in the man's voice when he yelled back at him.

"NO! The League would devastate the area! They'd take all the Clefairy and the Moon Stone away, and I'd be left with nothing! It's better to fight a losing battle against the Rockets than lose my lo - I mean, disturb the sanctity of their habitat."

"Ignoring the implications of the last bit," Ash began, looking slightly queasy. "You are aware that Clefairy are an endangered species for the League, and as such, they are obligated to leave them and their habitat alone?"

"They'd ignore it! When have they ever kept their promises for such a thing?!" Seymour shouted, his midair attempts to move growing increasingly frantic.

"Do you want a list? There's Kangaskhan, Dratini and its evolutionary line, Lapras… and that's only the ones from the Kanto region that they covered in school. There are plenty more in other regions as well, and - you don't care, do you?" Ash groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine, we'll help. Where are the Rockets?" Harry interjected.

"Marvelous!" Seymour beamed, and Ash was left dumbfounded.

"Wait, what-"

* * *

"Harry, this is a bad idea!" Ash hissed in his ear as they followed Seymour's lead. "We have no idea who this guy is or how many there are right now! We should call the League and get the hell out of here!"

"Do you think we have much of a choice?" Harry hissed back. "This guy is obviously unstable, and we don't really want to chance a sneak attack. Besides, I've already sent a distress signal to them. They should be here any minute now."

Ash visibly slumped in relief before straightening up. "Good. Here's hoping there's not too many Rockets."

"What are you talking about?" Seymour asked. "You're not trying to steal the Clefairy, are you? Because they're mine!"

"We're not trying to steal them." Harry placated. "Just trying to come up with a strategy to fight Team Rocket. How many are there?"

"Oh, not too many!" Seymour chirped as they neared another lighted area. "Only around twenty…"

He trailed off as they stepped into the cavern and found a small army of assorted mooks, Pokemon already released and ready to combat the three unfamiliar voices.

"...dozen!"

"Damn. I thought we'd break our record of being able to go a day without trouble." Harry deadpanned, releasing the rest of his Pokemon and motioning for Ash to do the same. "I guess asking you to surrender is out of the question?"

Suddenly, a line of Pokemon lunged at him, and he instinctively transformed into his hybrid form in a plume of fire.

"I thought so…" he trailed off as a man in a white suit pushed to the forefront of the Rockets, casually tossing a Pokeball up and down in his hand as he observed their group.

"Interesting. A human with the ability to transform into a Pokemon, and they choose to be a trainer. So... hypocritical." He sighed, putting on a weary smile. "Nevertheless, I have a proposition for the two of you. You both appear to be rather strong, but I highly doubt you can fight off this many members of Team Rocket, so why not join us? We offer benefits to our new employees, such as good dental, multiple vacation days, and plenty of strong pokemon."

"We'd never serve Team Rocket!" Ash spat out, transforming as well. "We'd rather die than sink to your level."

"Such a shame. Men, kill them."

Fangs glowing a bright white, half a dozen Raticate lunged toward the brothers, preparing to bite down on their exposed necks before they were summarily halted by the brothers' hybrid forms flaring up in preparation for the actual combat. As Ash blew the offending rats away with a weak _Shock Wave_ , the rest of Team Rocket released their Pokemon, leaving the brothers to face off against a small army of Rattata, Zubat, and Ekans.

"So, I'll take the 50 on the left, and you'll take the 50 on the right. Our Pokemon will take out the rest." Harry grinned in anticipation, cracking his neck as red fire flared to life in his palms.

"Screw you, I'll take 51!" Ash grinned back as electricity flared to life around him, the stench of ozone leaking into the surrounding air.

"That's the spirit!" Harry cheered as the first wave of Pokemon lunged at them. "Now…"

He trailed off for a moment before both he and Ash shouted in unison, _" **Fusion Bolt/Flare**!"_, and an explosion of pure force shook the mountain.

* * *

"Admin Archer!" a Rocket Grunt called out, running over to the white-suited Rocket who'd only just escaped ground zero. "We've discovered something important! They're legendary hybrids! Weak ones, admittedly, but still, they're too powerful for us! Sir, you've got to intervene, or we're all dead, and that's to say nothing of their pokemon!"

"Good man." Archer exhaled, clasping the grunt's shoulder as he stepped past his shaking body. "Thank you for the information, and how're your Pokemon holding up?"

"They're out cold, sir. I was also heading to the medic to get them revived, so-"

"No, don't. Focus on escaping." Archer cut him off. "We need to maintain our numbers first and foremost, and that strategy does nothing but injure our power in the long run. Tell those with no Pokemon to retreat - I'll cover the escape."

"Yes, Sir!" the grunt saluted as he ran back into the fray, leaving Archer to collect his thoughts as he analyzed the situation at hand.

"Two of the ten hybrids in recorded history and we manage to piss them off in a relatively harmless operation. What have we done to deserve this, aside from the thefts and insurrections planned by our current leaders?" he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he collected himself. "No matter. Nidoking, Houndoom, everyone else - we're going in."

With that, he once again plastered on an easy, cocky smile and strolled towards the center of the fighting once more, brushing past the fleeing guards as he appeared on the front lines.

"Congratulations, you've managed to dramatically injure most of our available Pokemon in one way or another, have wrecked our center of operations, and I probably passed at least twenty separate corpses on the way here. Such acts of heroism need a villain to counteract them, so I figured I might as well fill the role myself." Archer addressed the two brothers as he released his pokemon. As his Nidoking, Crobat, Houndoom, Weezing, Alolan Muk, and Krookodile fanned out around him, he took a moment to gauge their reactions to the news he'd given them.

" _At least the one in the black armor looks suitably horrified,"_ he thought in grim satisfaction as he watched him pale. _"The white one sadly doesn't seem to share his views on the loss of life, though. Shame, it would've made dealing with both of them significantly easier."_

"They were trying to kill us anyway!" The white hybrid protested. "That was self-defense! Besides, you probably don't care, given how you only now show up in regard to these alleged fatalities! You were probably just using them as meat shields to wear us down!"

Archer's eyes hardened, and he stepped back as his pokemon fell into their battle positions. "In regards to that assessment, you are wholly incorrect. I only now showed up because we needed information on your capabilities, and I was recovering from the shockwave of your combined attack. But, it's time for you to learn your place on the food chain - Nidoking, **_Terrace Arrows._** "

As his large, purple companion roared towards the heavens, the ground shot towards the brothers, lengthening and sharpening into hardened arrows of **_Earth Power_** as they crashed down, burying the two in a barrage of stone. As he saw the telltale green glimmers of a **_Protect_ **began to fade, Archer issued commands to the rest of his team.

"Nidoking, keep up the barrage and make the terrain unsteady. Houndoom, provide supporting fire. Krookodile, all-out assault on the black one. Weezing, defend me. Muk, Crobat - give the white one hell." he ordered as the earth blew apart, revealing the brothers no worse for wear. "Be ready to pull back when I give the command, and - begin."

* * *

"Am I a murderer?" Ash asked haltingly as his mind wandered. "Did I kill them when I didn't mean to - WHOA!"

He hastily dodged the **_Outrage_** -hyped Krookodilethat tore past him, impacting his Magneton and sending it flying into the cavern wall. As it turned around to make another run for him, Raichu shot forwards in a **_Railgun_** as she slammed a _**Brick** Break _onto its exposed head, to which it grabbed her tail and drove her into the ground to trigger an **_Earthquake_.** Preparing for the follow-up blow, the Krookodile was caught off guard by a _**Flash Cannon**_ and **_Bug Buzz_** slamming into its back, sending it staggering forwards and causing the **_Assurance_** to miss Raichu's prone body. Not a second later, Ash sent it flying with a quick _**Dragon** Claw_ and recalled the unconscious Raichu.

As the rest of his Pokemon barraged it with various attacks, Ash began charging up for his next assault as the ground suddenly shifted under him, sending him stumbling and leaving him open to the _**Terrace Arrow**_ that slammed into his back. As he recovered from the sudden blow, an _**Earth Power** _shot up and sent him flying into the same wall as his Magneton, the deus ex machina Pokemon that had not been named by the narrative yet.

 _"...If I'm hearing a disembodied voice call one of my Pokemon and dear companions a deus ex machina, I think I hit my head too hard."_ Ash thought as the world swam for a moment before solidifying.

" _Query: Master, are you in acceptable conditions?"_ Magneton asked as it broke free from the wall, eyes refocusing on the rampaging Krookodile.

"I will be once we deal with this!" Ash growled, before wincing and recalling Rotom after a particularly nasty blow from an _Assurance_. "Hit it with everything you've got and then some, I'll try and distract it. I can compartmentalize enough to do that, at least."

" _Affirmative: Of course, Master. Watch out for incoming_ _ **Flash Cannons**_ ** _."_**

As Ash shot forward, he slammed another **_Dragon_ _Claw_** into the Krookodile, only to freeze in horror as it did nothing to the monstrously strong Pokemon. "Moxie…" he whispered in horror as he narrowly dodged an **_Assurance_ ,** still getting clipped by the blow and being thrown backward. "Shit! Everyone, don't get hit!"

However, his warning was ultimately for naught, as a _**Stone Edge**_ shot up and immediately knocked out Vikavolt. Krookodile roared in triumph as it got another boost, its body glowing a neon red as it recieved the surge of power, and it reveled in its strength for a few moments. As it celebrated, Ash recalled Vikavolt and motioned for the rest of his Pokemon to join him.

"Look, we're going to lose in a conventional slugfest!" he hissed. "Just give me your electricity for now, I need to be able to overwhelm his immunity!"

As his Pokemon nodded and began redirecting their own respective electric currents into his body, he threw up a quick _**Protect** _as a preventative measure and promptly thanked Arceus for that particular brainwave as the ground rippled once more and Krookodile slashed at him with a _**Dragon Claw**_ **.** Slipping into an _**Outrage** _once more, Krookodile barraged the shield viciously as Ash returned his pokemon and charged up for the oncoming series of events. Shattering the **_Protect_ ,** Krookodile reared back for one final blow, which to its significant shock was caught in Ash's outstretched hand.

 _"̵͚͑͛I̷̡͆ ̸̭̍à̴̯̼̃ṃ̵̢̄̚ ̵͍̬͛̿t̴͔͝h̸̞̊ë̵̱́̚ ̶̣̐c̴̲̀h̷͖́i̷͇̽͘l̷̨̟̀d̵̜̩̑ ̴̝̮͠o̵̡̨̚f̴̧̹̽ ̷̗̜͂l̶̺͌́i̶̦̺͝g̷̻̮̉͝h̴̜͆͆ͅt̵͈̀n̶͔̈́î̷̺ņ̴͎̿̎g̶͖̣̐̚,̵̹̔̓ ̷̯͓̓h̷̙̾͝e̶̹̅ḯ̴̼̜̈́ŗ̴̉̌ ̵̪̩̒t̵͖͈̓̋o̵̪̟̿ ̷̝̣͂s̸̓͘ͅţ̸̲̽͐o̵͓̣͠r̶̩͕̊̇m̴̦͑̽s̸͈͝ ̴̢̥̌́a̸̯̥͆n̵̛̙͝ḑ̶͈̍ ̶͍̟͑t̵͕̥̅͑h̷̼͘e̸̬̎ ̴̡̦̄i̴̗͔͐d̷̥̾e̶͆͜a̶̲͘l̴͚̟̅s̶͔̍̕ ̸̻̻̃̂o̴̘̜͂̔f̴̲͉̐̿ ̶̪̽ṫ̴̹́h̶̬͔͠e̷̤̫͠ ̵̢̀w̵̡̤̑ợ̸̘̉r̶͕̹̽͗l̶̝̋́d̶̝̈ͅ!̶̻̰̽̅ ̵͍̆͐ͅT̵͕̆h̶̛̗̓e̷̗̤̽͐ṛ̵̥̀͠ȅ̷͙͘ ̵̬̠͂͠s̵̘̹̿h̵̦̹̕a̶͈̜̾l̷̦͛l̸̙͌͂ ̷̹̖́ḇ̷̾̀ë̸̼̖́͘ ̶̳͐n̶͚̖̽͌o̸̳̫̓ ̶̭̈́̕r̶͚̍ë̶̥̙͝s̷̠̙̆ì̵͍̳͐s̶͙̱̾̿ṱ̴̈́o̷͖͈̔̓r̴̨͌̕s̷̟͈̈́͘!̷̥͛͐"̴̧̹̆̍_ Ash bellowed, and channeled all of the electricity in his body into the stunned Krookodile. It writhed in pain as the electricity wreaked havoc on its body, eventually stilling and falling over as it fainted and was recalled in a flash of red light.

Panting from exhaustion, Ash collapsed onto the ground, putting the rest of his energy into a **_Protect_.** As he reverted back to normal and the repressed breakdown began to flood back into his thoughts, he heard the sounds of battle rage on in the caverns nearby. Asking a question that he was suddenly extremely worried about, he wondered, "How is Harry's fight going?" tried to get up, and promptly fell unconscious.

* * *

The answer to that was 'not very well', given how the only two Pokemon that were still conscious on Harry's side were rapidly running out of steam, and he wasn't faring much better. As he barely dodged out of the way of another _**Cross Poison**_ from Crobat, he fired a quick burst of flame at Muk, which blossomed in a crimson explosion that drove the mass of rainbow sludge away from Cordelia and Serperior.

Momentarily stopping to look on in satisfaction, Harry was caught off guard when Crobat clamped down with a _**Poison Fang**_ before taking off in a sudden burst of speed, narrowly avoiding being charbroiled by Harry in pain-fueled haze as he tried to burn the poison away before it spread. Barely managing to, he slumped over, watching in horror as the reformed Muk kept driving back his Pokemon's increasingly desperate attempts to get over to him.

"It's a shame how this turned out." Archer's voice rang out behind him, and a weak fire flickered to life in Harry's palms as he turned around. "I am curious about one thing, though - why did you lie to your brother about contacting the League?"

"The League is, and always has been useless!" Harry snarled. "They ignore the suffering of Pokemon with abusive trainers on a general level, can't be bothered to enforce their own decrees, and the Elite Four, the only ones I'd personally trust to handle a situation of this magnitude, wouldn't listen to one random trainer!"

"And here I thought you were the smart one." Archer shook his head. "The League isn't incompetent - hell, we've been driven back ever since our operations were exposed, and if you'd bothered to report this ACE trainers and a Gym Leader would be dispatched to handle us, bare minimum. As for the point of them ignoring abusive trainers, since when have those cases lasted beyond the first report to the local Officer Jenny or League-sanctioned official?"

"Look, kid. Both you and your brother are strong, there's no doubt about that. Hell, he took out of my strongest Pokemon and isn't horrifically injured, which is much better than I expected. However, you lack experience - and even if you didn't, I've spent years honing my skills after winning my first tournament. You didn't stand a chance. Nidoking!"

Archer snapped his fingers, and Nidoking roared, collapsing the cavern with an **_Earthquake_** and burying everything except Archer and his Pokemon under a massive pile of rubble.

* * *

 **A little later**

* * *

Harry awoke with a groan, attempting to get up before hissing in pain and falling back down. As his vision blurred with pain, he looked at the offending appendage and blinked in surprise. His right arm was wrapped tightly in red-tinted bandages, and he'd reverted back from his hybrid form.

"Oh, you're awake!" Ash's voice echoed inside their small hideaway. "Bad news - your arm is injured and we lost to Archer. The good news is that we're both alive and still have all our Pokemon. Now stay still for a moment, I need to change your bandages."

"I have never been so glad you took those emergency first aid classes." Harry breathed out as Ash began to unwrap the blood-stained strips of cloth. "Without this, I'd probably have bled out. Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"No, that was Serperior." Ash shook his head. "She threw herself over you and activated Ultimitl Bishbaalkin. Took all of her remaining energy, but she shielded you from the falling rocks - for the most part. She's currently in a deep sleep as she recovers. You really need to do something nice for her. Brace yourself."

"For what-" Harry hissed in pain again as Ash pulled off the last of the bandages. "Oh, that. Do we have any painkillers?"

"Sadly, no. I need to disinfect it as well before putting some more bandages on, so this is going to sting. It could've been far worse, though. Your arm was only in this good of a condition due to your hybrid form. If you were a regular human, we would've needed to take drastic measures to ensure the limb's survival."

As Ash rewrapped the arm, Harry fell silent aside from the occasional pained grunt. "You know," he grumbled. "Proton wasn't entirely wrong."

"Elaborate. You're good, by the way." Ash finished tying the bandages and helped Harry to his feet.

As they stumbled over to their small campfire, Harry told him, "He was right in that we're inexperienced. We have power, but we don't have much experience in applying it in battle. I mean, I couldn't beat his Crobat despite having the advantage in terms of pure strength."

"Yeah, my team needs to get stronger as well." Ash huffed. "We got crushed by the Krookodile on our own, and I kind of cheated to even be able to take it down. Really, we need better coverage and the ability to dodge attacks. We're a team of glass cannons."

As Harry began to tell him about the possibility of a training regimen for the two of them, Ash allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts as he packed up the small camp he'd made. _"I'm staying in hybrid form until we get out of Mt. Moon."_ he thought as he extinguished the campfire. _"I can't afford to have anything happen to either of us, and none of the Pokemon are able to fight for us. Despite my current reservations about using it, it doesn't look like I have much of a choice here."_

"Why didn't you drive them off?" Seymour's annoyed voice rang out throughout the little cavern. "You were supposed to clear out the area of all rocket activity!"

"Ummm… we did." Ash pointed out, shouldering the backpack with their camping gear. "They're no longer here, and they don't have a reason to return."

"Then why are there these massive piles of rubble?!" Seymour shouted. "I can't find any Clefairy to sodomize - I mean, peacefully interact with now that the tunnels are blocked!"

"Yeah, the fight with the admin kind of destroyed this cavern. Sorry!" Ash shrugged, completely unapologetic. "Look at it this way - at least people won't get lost on this route again!"

"GAAAHH!" Seymour screamed in rage and lunged towards Harry in a fit of anger. Ash quickly intervened, transforming and dashing between the two of them. As Seymour switched targets and began to (try to) pummel him, a large pink sphere of energy flew out and hit the crazed man in the back of the head.

" _Thank you for getting rid of the other humans, o children of truth and ideals."_ a melodic voice rang out, and a large Clefable stepped into the room, glowing with power. _"We couldn't have held out much longer at the Moon Stone, but your intervention drew enough forces away that we were able to push back and expel them from the mountain. Thank you for the opportunity to capture this one as well, as he's been a constant thorn in our side ever since he arrived. Now, please leave before we collapse this part of the mountain and recreate some of the tunnels."_

"Wait! Who are you?" Harry called out as Ash reverted to his normal form. "Why didn't you help us?"

" _Dear child, I am the guardian of the Moon Stone."_ the Clefable replied. _"And who says I haven't helped you?"_

With that, it waggled its finger and the world folded around the two brothers, dropping them through a swirling vortex of pink light. As they began to black out, the voice whispered in their ears, _"and with this, our debt is paid."_ and both their worlds went dark.

* * *

The brothers groaned as they awoke on the ground, and slowly got to their feet as they took in their surroundings. As it was, they were currently on an outcropping on Mt. Moon, a marked dirt trail a few feet away from them. Through a small forest lay Cerulean City, its buildings painted red with the light of the setting sun and immediately visible from their perch.

"The guardian teleported us out here…" Ash realized as he looked around, the enormity of the action not being lost on him. "With _Metronome_. A move that's supposed to uncontrollable. And yet, it somehow managed this level of fine control…"

"My arm's healed!" Harry gasped at the same time, flexing the previously-injured appendage as he unraveled the bandages. "I think it scarred, but the Clefable still healed it!"

Simultaneously, they turned to the mountain and shuddered in horror. "If _that_ level of control and power was being pushed back by Team Rocket, just how powerful are they?" Harry whispered, looking sick to his stomach. "What did we get ourselves into?"

"You mean, what did you get us into." Ash corrected, frowning in slight irritation. "You were the one that chose to get us involved in the first place, and asking the much more powerful Pokemon what its done for us is more than a little bit idiotic. Besides, it likely was the one that caused us to survive the collapse in the first place. The odds of neither of us being more seriously harmed than an arm injury when buried under dozens of tons of rock seems highly unlikely."

"Fine, I'll admit I could've handled that better." Harry grumbled, sufficiently chastised. "In hindsight, I'm just glad that we're not worse off."

"Either way, that Clefable was radiating fairy-type energy! I needed to return to my human form or I would've been severely weakened! How in the hell are we supposed to compete with that?!" Ash swallowed loudly before turning to Harry. "Harry, we need to get stronger."

"I couldn't agree more." Harry nodded, stepping onto the path. "However, there's no sense in staying out here to train. We've got to go to Cerulean to heal our teams and restock our supplies."

"...You just want to get a badge. Whatever, let's go."

* * *

 **Sorry for having this come out so late! Back in school now as well, so yay… Once again, sorry if the updates become slower than usual, but it's kind of hard to write quality material when you're juggling school, athletics, and everything else. Still, thanks for reading, and I'll try to update a little quicker next time.**


	6. Chapter 6: I Need More Chapter Names

"Finally, we're in Cerulean City!" Ash cheered as they marched through the city entrance and made a beeline for the Pokemon Center. "We can actually heal our Pokemon after the Mt. Moon debacle!"

"You can say that again!" Harry grinned. "I can't wait to get back into fighting condition! Here's hoping for a good gym battle!"

"OI! MINIONS!" Misty's voice rang out, and the crowd in the streets of Cerulean parted before her unyielding rage.

"I am… conflicted." Harry ground out as a ranting Misty stomped over towards them. "On the one hand, we're about to deal with a gym leader. On the other hand, we now need to deal with a raging bitch for the next couple of hours."

"Motion to present a united front?" Ash tentatively suggested as Misty drew ever closer and her ranting drew up to a fever pitch.

"Agreed." Harry nodded, and the two brothers faced their fate together as Misty stopped directly in front of them.

"With my authority as gym leader and QUEEN OF ALL POKEYMANS, I DECLARE THAT YOU MUST SUBMIT TO ME IN A GYM BATTLE IMMEDIATELY!" she bellowed, striking a pose in front of them designed to show off her (nonexistent) curves.

"...Congratulations, Harry." Ash said while facepalming. "You're going to get your wish for a gym battle. Was it worth it?"

"Let me think about it…" Harry trailed off as Misty drew her hyperspace mallet back in absolute fury at their nonchalance. "No."

 ** _BONK!_**

* * *

Chapter 6: I Need More Chapter Names

* * *

As the brothers' world came back into focus, they found themselves inside a large blue building.

"Welcome to the Cerulean Gym!" Misty's voice rang out, and they turned to find her standing on a platform on the other side of a pool. "Now… prepare to lose."

"Screw this, my pokemon aren't healed!" Ash protested, turning around and beginning to head for the door.

"TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW OR ELSE I'LL USE MY AUTHORITY TO STRIP YOU OF YOUR LICENSE!" Misty shrieked, and Ash winced.

"Geez, fine, whatever. Hey, Harry, do you mind if I go first?" Ash asked as he turned around. Upon receiving a shrug, he stomped over to the platform and pulled out a Pokeball. "Let's get this over with."

Grinning wickedly, Misty pulled out two Pokeballs. "This will be a two-on-two battle, and only the gym leader can switch Pokemon. Let the battle begin, and come on out Gyarados!"

As the massive blue serpent splashed down into the pool, Ash thought for a moment before tossing out Raichu. "Look, I know you're still tired and kind of sore, but I kinda need you to fight right now. You're the only one with enough charge and strength at the moment. If you can't muster anything, stall for time, ok?"

As he looked back up to the battlefield, Gyarados fired a **_Hydro Pump_** at Raichu, who barely dodged out of the way.

"Hey! You were supposed to start the match audibly!" He snapped at Misty, who turned her nose up and chuckled as the Gyarados continued to try and hit Raichu.

"Screw the rules, I make them!" she grinned gleefully, only to have her amusement completely destroyed when the Gyarados suddenly lit up with electricity and collapsed. "WHAT? YOU'RE CHEATING!"

"Or did you forget that Gyarados has a 4x weakness to electricity? Seriously, that was bound to happen." Ash glared at her. "Now, hurry up and send out your next Pokemon so that I can get going already."

"Misty? What in the hell are you doing?" a sleepy voice rang out through the gym, and an older teenager stepped through a well-hidden door. "You know you're on probation and not supposed to be battling. Seriously, any more rule-breaking and you'll be stripped of your position as a gym leader, and this time we won't save you."

"SHUT UP! STARMIE, USE ** _HYDRO PUMP_** ON LILY!" Misty screamed, and her Pokemon shot a pressurized column of water at her suddenly wide-awake sister, who grabbed for a Pokeball around her waist.

"Cordelia, use protect!" Harry ordered, and Cordelia slid in front of Lily, erecting a green dome of light around the two of them.

Ash recalled Raichu and transformed into his hybrid form, tensing up in preparation for a fight as Misty dug around in her bag. As she looked up at him, she sneered.

"Filthy half-breeds and irritating sisters! I'll get rid of-" she collapsed to the ground as a Greninja appeared behind her and struck the back of her neck, knocking her out. As it began to truss her with lots of rope, Lily turned to the brothers and grinned.

"Thanks for the save there! My name's Lily, youngest of the sensational sisters and one of the three Cerulean Gym Leaders! Sorry about our sister, she's a little… off. We're kind of obligated to take care of her, though."

"If by off you mean a neurotic egomaniac, then yes, your sister is a little off." Harry deadpanned. "Besides, with the comments she just made I think we're all well within our bounds to be offended. Remind me, why do you take care of her?"

And with that, most of their goodwill dried up in an instant as Lily leveled a death glare at Harry. "We take care of her," she snarled. "Because she's family. No matter how much we dislike her mannerisms, we still love her because she's our sister."

"Ah, so nepotism is a factor! I should've known the League was a corrupt bunch of-"

"OKAY THEN!" Ash cut him off, physically throwing himself between Harry and Lily. "How about Harry and I leave now and go to the Pokemon center!"

"Wait, you didn't get to the Pokemon Center?! Just how long ago did you arrive in town?" Lily asked, slightly horrified.

"Oh, and _NOW_ you-" Harry began, only to be cut off by Ash clamping his hand over his mouth.

"Harry, I love you, and you're my brother in all but blood. But for the love of Arceus, shut the hell up!" Ash growled before turning back to face Lily. "We'd just arrived when your sister found us and quite literally dragged us here. What's more, we'd just made it through Mt. Moon and had battled Team Rocket while we're there, so we were kind of in desperate need of healing."

"Wait, did you say you battled Team Rocket?" Lily interjected, shoving her anger to the side for the moment. "Go to the center and get your Pokemon healed up, then come back here and we'll talk about this. Be ready to meet my sisters as well, as they're also going to want to hear about this."

"Got it. Thanks for the warning." Ash nodded before turning around and walking out the door, physically dragging Harry out with him.

* * *

"What the hell was that about, Harry?" Ash asked in utter exasperation as they headed to the Pokemon Center. "There was no need for any of those comments! Why did you go and ruin all of our goodwill like that?!"

"A better question is," Harry interjected. "Why did you tell her about Team Rocket? We could've dealt with it on our own!"

Ash froze in place for a moment before turning around to face Harry. "...Could've dealt with it on our own? Could've dealt with it on our own?! Harry, are you certain you didn't hit your head in that battle because that's the stupidest thing I've heard all day. We can't handle Team Rocket on our own! The League is dealing with them, not us! They're professionals and we've just started our journey, so it makes no sense for us to try and get in their way by dealing with it ourselves!"

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Ash grabbed it and clamped it shut once again. "No, you don't get a chance to speak so that you can actually fucking learn something and not keep being absorbed in your flimsy defenses. WE. ARE. WEAK. At least, we're weak compared to the full strength of the gym leaders. Keep in mind, the gym leaders used to be the equivalent of monarchs in their respective areas before the League came along and assimilated them, and they've not gotten any weaker since then! They've been fighting the full force of the Rockets for the past five years and have been incredibly successful, whereas we went up against some yesterday, beat the mooks handily, and then proceeded to get our collective asses handed to us by the admin. We're outclassed, plain and simple, and it's damn well time that you realize that."

Pulling away from Ash, Harry gave him an affronted look. "But I had a plan-"

"Your plan is likely 'go out and hunt them all down without telling the league', no?" Ash interrupted, continuing when Harry flushed from embarrassment. "That's asinine. Aside from the large amount of legal trouble that could get us into, I must reiterate that we're not strong enough! Serperior's _Ultimitl Bishbaalkin_ is your most powerful asset, but she's so out of practice with it that she can only use it for two minutes before burning out, and I don't think that she's strong enough to defeat a full team of six that are all fighting to kill. What's more, I don't even have anything remotely close to that level of power, so that's out as well. In other words, fighting would be idiotic because we're far too weak!"

Ash sighed. "Look, if we run into some random grunts we will fight them, that's just doing our duty as a trainer. However, I will immediately call the League afterward, seeing as how you apparently have a problem with authority and you'll likely try to drive them off. We're not going in half-cocked like last time - or did the fact that we both almost died conveniently slip your mind when remembering that incident. It's only thanks to the gratitude of the Clefable that we're here now, but I don't want that to happen again. End of discussion, we're not seeking out Team Rocket. Now, let's get to the Pokemon Center and heal our teams."

* * *

After dropping off their teams at the Pokemon Center and heading back to the Gym

* * *

"Harry, let me do the talking on this one," Ash said as they entered the building. "It's probably for the best to not try and verbally tear them apart like you did last time."

"Given that you seem to be particularly preachy about this today, _fine_ ," Harry grumbled, still irritated from being shut down earlier.

"There you are!" an unfamiliar voice rang out through the gym, and a purple-haired woman walked over to the brothers. "My name's Violet, one of Lily's sisters and one of the gym leaders of Cerulean City. We've been expecting you, so let's head over and get started."

They walked through the hidden door that they'd seen during the gym battle and started heading down a long corridor. The entire time, Violet kept talking about what to expect in the meeting, explaining that they weren't in trouble and that the League just needed the information. After a minute of walking, they arrived at a well-lit room with a table and some chairs, with Lily and her other sister already sitting down at the table.

"Oh, like, hello! It's like, really nice to meet you!" The third sister grinned, ignoring Lily's chidings of 'Daisy, be serious'. "So, like, do you like fashion or swimming, or-"

"And we're stopping that there," Violet cut her off as they all got seated. "You two said that you had a run-in with Team Rocket?"

"Yep," Ash nodded casually as he leaned forward. "We found a large group in Mt. Moon that were apparently attempting to remove the Moon Stone and were led by somebody that called themselves 'Archer'.We ended up fighting with them because my brother and I ended up running into a mentally unstable scientist by the name of Seymour that had been living in the Mountain and had hinted repeatedly that he was sodomizing the Clefairy. What happened was that he'd essentially recruited us unwillingly, but when I asked my brother if he'd called the League, well…"

"Let me guess," Lily spoke up. "He told you he had called when in actuality he hadn't, either out of some misguided belief that you two could handle it or that he just doesn't like the League as a whole. I'm leaning more towards the latter at the moment, given our conversation this morning."

"Try 'loathes authority in general'," Harry responded with a frown on his face. "Look, I get that not every person in power is corrupt, but until I find evidence to the contrary I automatically go on the defensive. There's too much at risk to assume otherwise.

"Back to the subject at hand," Ash interjected. "We ended up fighting off the grunts fairly handily. The Admin stepped in after that and quickly defeated us before collapsing the cavern we were in."

"Before you continue, what did the Admin look like, and what team did he use?" Violet asked, flipping open a pad of paper. "We'll be more likely to find him if you give us more information on his team and capabilities."

"He had a Krookodile, a Crobat, a Houndoom, a Nidoking, a Weezing, and an Alolan Muk." Harry rattled off, appearing slightly annoyed at the disbelieving looks thrown his way. "What? I might not like it, but I'm not stupid enough to try and withhold information from a League investigation. All that would accomplish is landing me in hot water. Anyway, he had green-blue hair, fair skin, and he looked fairly young - like someone in their late teens or early 20s."

"Thanks for the information," Violet stated as she closed the pad of paper. "Now, please finish your recollection of the event."

"Well…"

* * *

"Urgh…" Ash moaned as he woke up, sore all over. "Where am I? Where's Harry?"

As his vision cleared, he looked around from inside his _Protect_ dome, growing increasingly worried as he recognized what had happened. "A cave-in?" he muttered in disbelief. "After the first blow, we were careful to not cause one! What the hell happened?!"

As he strode out of the green dome, Ash was relieved to find that no, it wasn't a complete cave-in. Apparently, there'd been another cavern above the one they were currently in, and by the looks of it, the floor had given way. "Now that that's answered," he mused as he looked around. "Where is everybody?"

A surge of suppressed emotions bubbled to the surface, the feelings of _guilthorrorterror_ threatening to overwhelm Ash as he struggled to keep his breathing under control. "Later," he breathed out shakily. "I can have my inevitable breakdown later. It won't do me any good to exhaust myself before the search is even started. I can argue with myself over my taking a life later."

Still slightly shaken, Ash straightened up as a twitch of movement caught his eye. "Harry? Is that you?"

Receiving a groan of pain in response, he dashed over and found Harry and Serperior buried beneath a large pile of rock. Raising her head, Serperior grinned as Ash approached before grimacing in pain.

" _Ah… Ash. Please help my master. I can be returned to the Pokeball for stasis - he can't."_ she hacked out as Ash removed the rock. _"His arm… it's pulped. I couldn't save all of him."_

"That's crap and you know it," Ash growled as he finished excavating them. "If you'd not shielded him, he likely would've died. Now, where's my bag? I need to grab the first-aid kit…"

* * *

"And immediately after taking care of the more pressing issues, I promptly had a bit of a breakdown." Ash grimaced.

"It couldn't have been that bad-" Harry began, only to be cut off by Ash.

"I obliterated a 5-meter section of stone and blackened another 10 meters as I tried to deal with taking someone's life." Ash snapped back, shocking everyone else into silence. "Look, I get that they're criminals. Still, a life is something to treasure, something to try and preserve! Because of my lack of control over my powers, I'm directly responsible for their deaths."

"Did they attack first?" Daisy asked nonchalantly. "If they did so, then it's not murder - it's self-defense."

"They did attack first," Violet groaned as she cast a glare at their more ditzy sister. "As you'd know if you'd been listening. Either way, that's not the problem the kid is talking about."

"As for you, kid," Violet stated as she turned around. "I'm sorry, but you're going to need to accept that it happened and move on. By all means, train your control so that it's less likely to happen again, but I must reiterate that you can't change what's already happened."

Lily nodded. "Good advice, but back to the topic at hand. You said Harry's arm was pulped, no? Then why is it still attached to his arm, much less looking like a functional appendage?"

"I was getting to that," Ash grumbled before straightening up. "There's an ancient Clefable-"

"Ohhh," the three sisters grinned in unison. "We know who you're talking about!"

"Yeah, you mentioned the sexually-inclined scientist Seymour earlier? Well, you helping them catch him would've likely earned their favor." Lily explained cheerfully. "They're relatively well-meaning and caring, so they would've used your favor to heal your injured and set you on the right path."

"However," Lily frowned. "Your Pokemon were clearly not at full strength, and they're certainly not anywhere near as strong as it. Even assuming a full party of six for each of you, that Clefable is essentially a legendary when close to the moon stone. At the very least, it's as close to being a legendary as any Pokemon can feasibly get. So, is there something you're not telling us?"

"...It had said Team Rocket had been beginning to win against it." Ash admitted.

"That's… worrying." Violet said as the three gym leaders stood up. "Thank you for the information, but we must ask you to leave the premises. The gym will be reopened tomorrow, but as of this moment… we have more pressing issues."

* * *

"Harry, we should probably call our moms," Ash commented as they entered their room. "It's been about two weeks, they're probably worried sick."

"Yeah, good point," Harry admitted. "I'd been fairly distracted by the whole Team Rocket debacle, so I'd forgotten to bring it up. Let's do it now."

Heading over to the computer in the room, the two logged on to the terminal and launched an invitation for a video call. "I wonder how our moms are going to react…" Ash trailed off as Theia and Reshiram's faces popped up on the screen, both with a rather stormy expression.

"Well?" Theia asked coolly. "How will we react to what?"

At that moment, one thought flashed through both brother's heads. _"Oh, this will not be fun…"_

* * *

"Okay, let me get this straight." Theia breathed in deeply. "You attacked Team Rocket, got your collective asses handed to you by one of their leaders, did not call the League, and managed to encounter one of the few non-legendary Pokemon able to fight on our level. Afterward, you attempted to antagonize a gym leader in an attempt to withhold details of the event from them."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Harry admitted. "However, I need to keep our family a secret to the League! If they know about us-"

"Honey, they already know about us." Reshiram cut Harry off. "It's an agreement between the Hall of Legends and the Leagues that we'll report our location and intentions when acting without a proxy - at least when we're acting on League grounds. We've been common knowledge to the upper echelons of the League ever since we moved here eight years ago. Your intentions are admirable, but you've been assuming that we hadn't already taken action to prevent such situations."

"What?" Harry asked, utterly stupefied. "You're telling me that not only are our species common knowledge to the League, but I've spent my entire life worried over you guys being captured for nothing?!"

"No, our secret is only known to people like the gym leaders and the Elite 4 - possibly some of the higher-ranking Ace Trainers as well. Don't spread it around too much, as anyone lower than an Ace Trainer probably would have no idea, and the Ace Trainers probably don't know either. As for the whole capturing situation…"

Reshiram sighed, looking much older. "I won't lie to you, some of the more old-fashioned members of the League have in the past advocated for us to be captured, either to be used as a weapon or as a status symbol. However, they are nothing but a very vocal minority and their opinions hold little to no weight in actually influencing the League's decisions."

"So you're saying that I've been burning bridges unnecessarily for the past couple years." Harry groaned, dropping his face into his hands. "Great. I should've asked about this sooner. Now, if you'd excuse me, I need to think about this for a while."

He marched into his section of the divided room and closed the door, leaving Ash, Reshiram, and Theia in an awkward silence. After a few moments, Theia cleared her throat and began to speak again. "So, what were you saying about you vaporizing rock with your electricity exactly?"

"Oh, well…"

* * *

Later that day

* * *

Harry solemnly walked back into the room, tossing Ash his belt of pokeballs and flopping back onto the bed. "So," he began hesitantly, turning to face his brother. "I think we should stay here. Take a break from traveling, you know?"

"You have the ulterior motive of wanting to see Mom's proof, don't you?" Ash asked in response, internally wincing at how exactly that came out. "Wait, what I meant was-"

"Don't bother," Harry groaned, rolling his eyes. "I know what you mean. But yeah, I want to see if I can find anyone in authority that I can give even a modicum of trust."

"As long as you keep that in mind…" Ash trailed off before perking back up. "So, before the gym battle, do you want to head to the nearby beach? I mean, it's still fairly nice out, and I'm pretty sure our teams would enjoy it."

"Sure, but let's go tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I kind of want to just stay here for now."

"Great! Thanks, Harry!" Ash grinned as he ran out of the room, Harry looking on in slight disbelief.

"He can dissect and understand what amounts to an interrogation perfectly, but he fails to recognize the subtext of that?" He asked, slightly shocked. "Well, I guess nobody's perfect."

* * *

 **Sorry for the relatively small chapter. College apps and various other situations have not exactly been the most helpful in terms of being able to work on this. Sorry, but for the time being the story is going to be extremely sporadic in updates. I might be able to get something out over winter break, but please don't hold your breath on that. Thank you for your continued tolerance of this.**


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